Trouble
by IHaveNargles
Summary: Aki is back and in action with new cases and possibly new characters! Basically, this is I guess you could call it a sequel, but it won't be just one case. I've got a lot of ideas for cases for this story written down. I don't know how well this will turn out, but I hope everyone enjoys it :3 I know I enjoy it!
1. Prologue

Prologue

December

Day 1

It's been months since that case. I've gotten over everything that happened and now I'm happy with how my life is going right now. I've been working at my new job and I love it. School is awesome too because I get to hang out with Michiru and Keiko. Plus on the weekends, the three of us will hang out in the morning and then I'll go by the office to visit Mai, Naru, and Lin. Also, I have just enough money to get myself an apartment. I talked to Mai's landlady and she said there was an open room on the floor below Mai's and she said I could have it if I wanted it. She said she'll hold it for me until I get enough money and with my next check, I'll have enough for the rent. I'm super excited to get my own apartment. The landlady just told me that this morning actually and since its Saturday, I'm going to tell Mai, Naru, and Lin about it. I'll admit that Naru actually paid me for the time I helped him and the others with that case and I saved that money up for the apartment. I honestly didn't expect him to and I told him he didn't have to, but he was stubborn about it. I haven't had many incidents like before with that tree branch almost hitting Mai. I only had one and that involved a cat running out into the middle of traffic and the car swerved and missed me by inches. Another four inches and I would've ended up in the hospital again.

I actually saw a shadow of a spirit this time. It didn't look very nice at all. I haven't told anyone about it yet, but I plan to after I tell them my good news. I know if I told them before the good news, we'd be stuck on that topic for awhile and by the time I get to actually tell them, it'll be too late. So that's why I'm heading over to the office right now. I still haven't heard anything from my brother and parents but I'm not surprised and I'm actually glad that they're keeping their distance from me. I don't need their drama crap. I love my life as it is right now and I don't want anything to change it. "Aki, what are you doing here so early?" Mai asked wide-eyed as she set a tea tray on the coffee table. Naru was sitting on one couch and a new client was sitting on the other side.

"Oops, sorry, I'll come back later."

"Actually," Naru said speaking up before I could get out the door. "I have a favor to ask of you." Well that's not something you hear every day. So I turned around and looked at him expectantly. "Kazuo-san here is having some trouble at his middle school and has requested that we take a look at it."

"And?"

"Since Miss Hara won't be able to make it, I was wondering if you would step in and help us out on this case." I frowned remembering the last case I helped them on. I sighed, mentally shaking my head.

"Sure, I don't mind helping you out." He nodded.

"Thank you." I grinned, because I could see Mai fuming inside. He never told her thank you for bringing him tea. It was great.

"It's no problem."

"Thank you all for your help." Kazuo-san said standing up and bowing before leaving.

"Before we get down to business, I would like to share some good news. Lin has to be in here too." I said grinning. Naru sighed but complied and got Lin.

"What is it?" Lin asked curiously.

"I've saved up enough money to get my own apartment. I talked to your landlady, Mai, and she said there was an available one on the floor below yours." I said beaming.

"Congratulations!" Mai said grinning. Lin smiled and pretty much told me the same thing. After about five minutes of Mai asking me questions and me answering them, Naru got impatient and cleared his throat. I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

"Right, business..." Same ol' Naru…


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"We're waiting on Monk, John, and Miss Matsuzaki to show up." Naru said scowling slightly.

"You know if you keep frowning, your face is going to stick like that." I told him as seriously as I could. Mai cracked up laughing and Lin started laughing too, but covered it up with a cough. Naru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. I just grinned. I just love messing with him. Monk, John, and Ayako finally showed up and were shocked to see me there.

"What are you doing here Aki?" Monk asked curiously.

"Naru has asked me to step in for Masako and I agreed. So here I am!"

"That wasn't your actual reason for coming though." Mai said grinning.

"Oh?" Ayako said smiling.

"Oh yeah, I finally saved up enough money to get my own apartment."

"Congratulations, Aki!" John, Monk, and Ayako said smiling.

"Thank you!" Naru once again cleared his throat.

"Let's get back to work." Ayako and I stuck our tongues out at him as the three took a seat. He sighed. "Kazuo-san is the principal of Kisaragi Middle School. He is concerned about the things his students have claimed happened. For instance, on the tennis courts, the ball baskets suddenly fall over when no one is near them and the nets go missing and are found on the locker room roof. Also personal belongings get switched around."

"That's weird," Ayako said shivering.

"Also there are reports of the piano in the music room playing by itself, the drums falling over, chair legs brake when someone sit on a specific chair. I believe he said the chair is the one on the second row in the very middle. Also during band practice, the sheet music gets blown off the music stands even though the windows are closed."

"Ooh, that sounds interesting." I said grinning.

"It sounds like a case of poltergeist activities to me." Monk said frowning.

"Then,"

"There's more?" Ayako asked wide-eyed. Naru glared at her and she went quiet.

"Then in classroom 3-A, there are reports of writing appearing on the chalk boards when no one is around, the desks get moved, and there was a case where one of the windows broke in the middle of class. There wasn't anything there that showed what broke the window."

"That's troubling." John said frowning too.

"So who was the one that fell in their seat during band practice?" I asked curiously.

"It was a boy by the name of Fuji Kosuke. He's a second year there. That's all Kazuo-san told me."

"Do you think this could be another case like Yasu's school?" Mai asked thoughtfully.

"It's a possibility. I asked Kazuo-san if he noticed any of the students walking around with papers that looked like spirit boards and he said he hadn't."

"But that doesn't mean they don't do it." I said grinning. I love me a good mystery.

"Yes, that's why we're going to ask the students when we get to the school. We're starting tomorrow morning at 8. I've already called your school, Mai and Miss Haru, and told them you need to be excused for the next three days. I've also called your work and they gave you the next three days off." Man, he works fast.

"When exactly did you call them?" I asked confused.

"While you all were talking," He said looking at some papers. I shrugged. That's good enough for me. "I also have Lin starting on doing background checks on our clients. I don't want what happened to Miss Haru last time, to happen again. If I had known that Ichirou-san was going to be like that, I would've refused." Naru said frowning.

"Hey, it's not your fault Naru. What Ichirou-san and Ishida-san did was their own decisions. We just happened to be unlucky enough to get caught up in it." I told him sympathetically.

"I still don't understand why they would hire someone to check out the school if they were the ones causing the stuff to happen in the first place." Ayako said rolling her eyes. I shrugged.

"I don't think anyone will understand what was going on in their heads." After talking some more about the case, we moved on to another topic.

"So how's your job at the café coming along?" Monk asked me.

"I love it." I said grinning. "Suzuki-san and Hajime-san are great to me. Suzuki-san thinks if I keep going the way I am, she'd promote me to assistant manager. Hajime-san is the current assistant manager but she's been having family problems at home, so she said she might step down from it."

"That's great news, well for you anyways." Ayako said shrugging.

"Do you want to be the assistant manager there?" John asked me curiously. I shrugged.

"I'll give it a try if the opportunity presents itself, but if doesn't pan out, then that's all there is to it." The rest of the day, I just hung out with Mai at the office. Monk, John, and Ayako had to go prepare for tomorrow and it was my day off, so I decided to just chill out here until Mai was done. I also went out and got some lunch from the café and brought it back to the office to share with Mai and the other two, but Lin and Naru politely turned it down. What do they eat then? Seriously... is drinking tea the only thing they do all day besides paper work? Well whatever, more food for Mai and I. Of course we didn't finish it all and stuck it inside the fridge so Mai can have lunch for tomorrow. It was nearly time for Mai to get off work before I remembered the bad news that I was going to tell Lin, Naru, and Mai. I frowned. But it's so late at night and I don't want them to be worried about it and not be focused on the case tomorrow.

"Is there something wrong, Aki?" Mai asked me as we started our walk back to Mai's apartment. I shook my head.

"No, it's nothing. I'm just being silly." I told her smiling. She frowned. "I promise I'll tell you about it tomorrow after we get settled with the case." She sighed but nodded.

"Okay, but if it's something really serious, then don't complain when I yell at you for not telling me sooner." I grinned.

"It's a deal." She smiled. As we walked, I felt like something or someone was watching us and it was freaky.

"A-Aki, do you feel like we're being watched?" Mai whispered, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, let's hurry up." She nodded and we sped up the pace. We were just around the corner of the apartment complex. I heard a twig snap, like someone stepped on it. I turned around quickly, but I didn't see anyone. The wind wasn't blowing very hard, but the atmosphere was very tense and kind of scary; like something could jump out at you any moment kind of scary.

"Let's run," She whispered, looking like she was ready to freak out. I nodded and we started running to the apartment. I hope that we're just imagining things and that nothing happens. As we were running, I heard the blare of a car horn and the squealing sound of tires and it was coming in our direction.

"Mai!" I yelled pushing her into some bushes and falling on the ground next to her. The car hit a tree a few feet away. Again I saw the shadow of a spirit and it was glaring at me as it ran away from the car. "Are you okay, Mai?" She groaned as she sat up.

"Yeah, what happened?"

"It was another one of those incidents I told you about." She frowned as I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for the police. After speaking with the officers after they showed up for about thirty minutes, they sent us home. The driver in the car came out with some bruises and possibly a concussion, but they were okay. They didn't have any passengers thankfully. Also, they didn't recall ever losing control of the car and the police thought maybe the person was drunk, but that wasn't the case. The police couldn't figure it out, but I knew the reason. It was that spirit.

"This is the second time it's happened in the last month." I said as soon as we made it inside the apartment. "But it hasn't happened as much since I've moved back to Japan, than it did when I was in America. Then again, the incidents have escalated."

"Have you told Naru or Lin about any of this?"

"No," I said sighing. "I actually planned on telling them about it today. The last time this happened, I saw the shadow of a spirit."

"A shadow?" It was obvious she was confused.

"I don't know how else to explain it. I couldn't see the spirit clearly and I saw it again this time. I was going to tell you about it tomorrow, but then this happened." She smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you told me. I was beginning to worry that your parents were trying something and you didn't want to talk about it or something like that." I shook my head.

"No, they haven't tried to talk to me since the last time my brother called. But this is getting pretty bad though. The last incident involved a car too."

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked scowling at me and smacking my arm.

"Owie," I said pouting. "It was put out of my mind as soon as I walked into work." She sighed.

"I don't see how you can forget about something like that so easily."

"Well, you have to take into account that I've been having stuff like this happen pretty much my whole life and I'm used to it. Also, I really enjoy work. It's kind of like my get away from all the crap with the incidents and my parents. Plus no one there knows that I can see and talk to ghosts. It's not that I mind you and the others knowing about it, because I'm fine with you knowing. It's just I know a lot of people don't accept people like that. For example, I never had any friends until I moved back to Japan. I did have some friends back in America but they weren't my true friends. My brother told them about what I can do and they ran away from me. They called me names and treated me horribly just because I can see and talk to ghosts." I sighed.

"I'm sorry, Aki. I realize you have gone through a lot, I just keep forgetting." She said apologetically. I smiled.

"It's okay, Mai. It's not your fault. I just have a hard time talking about it because I never really had anyone to talk about it with." She smiled and hugged me.

"Well, now you do, so don't ever forget that." I grinned.

"I promise I won't." The two of us finally got ready for bed. I'm starting to get a little more excited about the case tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

December

Day 2

The next morning, Mai and I made it to the office about fifteen minutes early, which is weird for us. We're usually almost always late. "You two are early." Lin commented when we stepped inside. I shrugged as Mai went straight for the mini kitchenette to start some tea.

"Well, I think we had some trouble getting to sleep after the night we had last night." I said a bit exhaustedly. "Mai, could you make me an iced coffee instead?"

"Sure," She said putting one of the tea cups back.

"What happened?" Naru asked sternly. I sighed.

"Well, I meant to tell you both this yesterday, but it completely slipped my mind until Mai and I started walking home. The last time I had one of those incidents, I saw a shadow of a spirit. I don't know any other way to explain it. Another incident happened last night. Mai and I were just around the corner from the apartment complex and a driver lost control of their car and nearly hit us. I saw the shadow of the same spirit from before."

"This is serious, why didn't you say anything about it after the first incident that you experienced?" Naru asked scowling at me.

"I'm sorry, but like I told Mai, the incident was pushed out of my mind as soon as I walked into work. The incidents don't happen as often since I've moved back into Japan, but they have escalated. I don't know what to do about it. I haven't expressed more concern about it because stuff like that has happened to me since I was little. Of course, I'm more worried now that it's escalated to this point." Naru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Right now, we'll worry about the case, but we are going to talk about this." I nodded.

"I know. I'm sorry for keeping it from you."

"It's fine. Just, don't do it again."

"Okay," Lin was quiet this whole time. I wonder what he's thinking right now. He's probably upset that I withheld important information from him and Naru.

"Here you go, Aki." Mai said handing me my iced coffee. I smiled.

"Thanks Mai, you're the best."

"Aw, you're making me blush." I stuck my tongue out at here.

"Hey, where's mine?" Monk asked as he, Ayako, and John walked in.

"You have to get it yourself." I told him, grinning. "Mai is mine!" He gasped.

"Never!"

"Guys, stop fighting over Mai. Everyone knows she's mine." Yasu said walking in.

"Yasu!" Mai said scowling at him. He chuckled.

"I didn't know you were coming Yasu." I said after taking a sip of my iced coffee, as Mai got Monk some iced coffee.

"Naru called me last night. He wanted me to help Lin-san with the background check on Kazuo-san. Also, he wanted me to look into the school history; like when it was built and stuff."

"To check for things like ground subsidence?" Mai asked curiously.

"Yes, and I wanted to know if there had been a history of things like this going on or if it just started recently." Naru answered. It seems he got over the whole withholding information thing for now.

"Oh I have an answer for that one. There haven't been any reports about any activity until Kazuo-san came to you yesterday. Also, the school wasn't built over any water pipes or wells, so ground subsidence is out." Naru nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Well, I think this is a cause of an earth spirit." Ayako said crossing her arms.

"You think the cause of every case we go on is an earth spirit." Monk pointed out. She scowled at him and hit on the head with a pillow. "Hey, watch it!" I smiled. Those two are so meant for each other.

"I've briefed Yasuhara-san on the case, so get ready to leave." Naru said standing up. I pouted.

"But everyone just got here," I nearly whined. He sighed. I grinned. "I'm just kidding, Naru." I quickly finished off my iced coffee before we all headed over to Kisaragi Middle School. Luckily it was just across town. Kazuo-san was standing by the doors waiting for us.

"Hello, Shibuya-san. These people are?"

"This is Lin Koujo and Taniyama Mai, my assistants, Haru Aki, Yasuhara Osamu, Matsuzaki Ayako, John Brown, and Takigawa Hosho. They are consultants on this case." Naru explained.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I've got the conference room set up like you asked." Kazuo-san said as we followed him into the school. It seems we came at a time when the students are just getting to class. Are we early? I checked my watch and it was about 9 o'clock. Maybe they had a school assembly this morning? The students were staring and whispering to each other as we followed Kazuo-san to the conference room. I decided to look around to see if I can spot any spirits. I didn't see any so far. I really wanted to check out the music room though. "This is the conference room. You may use it however you wish."

"Thank you Kazuo-san."

"If you have any questions or concerns, please come find me. I'll let my staff know that."

"It's much appreciated." Kazuo-san bowed before leaving. "Let's get the monitors in here. Mai, I'll leave that up to you and Monk." Mai and Monk nodded before heading back out. "Aki, I want you and John to set up cameras in the music room, classroom 3-A, and the tennis courts. I've asked Kazuo-san to close those areas off from the students."

"And he agreed to it?" I asked shocked. The music room must be used the most next to the tennis courts.

"Yes, he told me he'd do anything if it would help stop what's going on."

"Let's get to work then." John said smiling. I nodded, smiling back.

"Should I help them?" Yasu asked Naru.

"No, I have another task for you and Matsuzaki-san."

"Are we looking for hitogata?" Ayako asked looking miserable. Naru smiled. Well, it was more of a smirk than a smile.

"Yes, Lin and I will be waiting here to get information from the students." She groaned.

"I just got my nails done! Alright, Yasu, let's get this over with." Yasu chuckled and followed her.

"Good luck!" I told them grinning. "Let's grab the cameras and microphones!" I said turning to John.

"Alright," The two of us went out to the van to grab what we needed.

"I can't wait to see the music room."

"Why?" John asked as we headed to our first location: classroom 3-A.

"I've always liked music, but I don't have a musical bone in my body." I said grinning. He chuckled.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not very good with music either." I laughed.

"Sorry, but it kind of does." He smiled.

"That's alright. Have you seen any spirits yet?"

"No, but I haven't seen the whole school yet."

"When we're done with the cameras, I bet Shibuya-san will want you to see if you can see anything."

"Yeah, I just wish I could sense them like Masako can. That would be nice."

"Yes, but you should be grateful for what you were given."

"I know that now. I remember in America, I used to resent being able to communicate with spirits. I hated it because that meant my brother could tell anyone who attempted to be my friend about it and then they wouldn't want anything to do with me." I said frowning.

"It must've been hard." He said sympathetically. I smiled.

"It was, but I was so used to it back then that it didn't even bother me that much. I just didn't realize how hard it was for me until after I moved in with Mai." We made it the classroom and started setting everything up. The classroom looked normal, but I know it's not normal at all after all the things I've heard about this room. I checked the chalkboard, but there wasn't anything written on it.

"This must be the window that was broken. It hasn't been replaced yet." John said looked at the busted window.

"That's weird, the glass is all on the inside." I said frowning.

"So, a spirit must've hit it from the outside, if they can float in the air." John said thoughtfully.

"I'm just trying to come at it from a logical point of view, you know." He smiled.

"I know, but Naru said this was in the middle of class right? If someone were to use a cherry picker or tried to lower themselves down to this floor, someone would have seen them. Also, there weren't any signs of a weapon used to break the window, either."

"I know," I said sighing.

"Maybe we'll find something in the music room." He suggested. I nodded as we picked up the remaining cameras and microphones and headed to that room next. We ran into Ayako and Yasu, when we walked in.

"Any luck?" I asked them as we sat up the equipment.

"None so far. We just came from the tennis courts, so we haven't checked in here yet." Yasu answered as he helped Ayako over turn one of the snare drums.

"Have you checked the middle chair of the second row?" I asked eagerly.

"No, I almost forgot about that one." Ayako said as they put the snare drum back.

"We've got to move on to the tennis courts, but if you find something,"

"We'll let you know." Yasu said nodding and smiling. I grinned.

"Great! See you guys later!"

"Be careful, Aki!" Ayako yelled after me as John and I began to leave.

"Why?"

"The tennis courts made me feel uneasy. I also felt like we were being watched." She said, anxiously rubbing her left arm. I nodded.

"Okay, I'll be careful." She smiled and then John and I made our way out to the tennis courts. "I wonder if whatever was watching Ayako and Yasu is still there."

"I guess we'll find out." John said shrugging as we carried the last of the equipment out to the tennis courts. There were some students out on the track field doing some warm ups as we walked. Every now and then one of them would stop and stare at us.

"Maybe she felt one of those kids staring at her and Yasu." I said thoughtfully.

"I don't think so. I overheard Shibuya-san and Lin-san talking as we passed the conference room to go to the classroom and Shibuya-san said the tennis courts are about fifteen meters from the track field." I nodded as we finally made it to the tennis courts. I could see what John was saying. You couldn't see those kids from over here and the tennis courts for some reason felt a little closed off from the rest of the school.

"I don't see any spirits, but I do feel like we're being watched." I said looking around. I tried to look at the school and see if anyone was watching us from out the windows, but every student that I saw near the window was looking towards the chalkboard. "It kind of makes me uneasy. I hope that whatever spirit(s) is here isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Me too," John said as we finally started heading back to the conference room


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

John and I finally returned to the conference room and saw Naru, Mai, Monk, Lin, Ayako, and Yasu surrounding one of the tables and looking at something. "What's going on?" I asked curiously as we walked up to them.

"We found a Hitogata under the middle chair in second row in the Music Room just as you two left." Yasu said smiling.

"Ooh, does it have a specific name or something?" I asked curiously.

"No, it looks like it's aimed at whoever sits there." Lin answered.

"I wonder if the person who put it there, knew that Kosuke-kun sat there."

"We won't know until we find the person and ask them." Monk said frowning.

"That's not what's important at the moment." Naru said going over to the desk I assumed they used when they were listening to stories. "A student by the name of Minoru Sachiko talked to us and told us about how her childhood friend, Naoki Kichirou, doing extensive research on Hitogata and other things related to the paranormal. I believe he's the one behind the Hitogata."

"But that doesn't solve the poltergeist activity and the broken window." Monk said frowning.

"That's why I plan to use the test on the whole student body this afternoon. I asked Kazuo-san if that was okay and he agreed to do it." Hopefully I'll get to see this test of his now. I didn't get to last time because of what happened to that student in the gym.

"Do you want me and Aki to do a walkthrough of the school?" Ayako asked him.

"Yes, but be careful." We nodded and Ayako and I left the room once again.

"Did you feel what I felt at the tennis courts?" She asked me as we went to the entrance. We were going to start from there and move on.

"Yeah, it was definitely creepy. I didn't see anything though." I said frowning. "I think the spirit is hiding itself from me."

"Then this is definitely not a residual haunting."

"Yeah, Yasu said this was the first time any activity has been reported here, so someone somewhere must be bringing them here."

"Maybe it was that Naoki kid."

"Well, we won't know for sure unless we talk to him." I decided to text Naru and tell him what Ayako and I were talking about, so maybe he could talk to Naoki-kun.

"So have you spotted anything yet?"

"No, nothing so far." I said we walked into the cafeteria.

"Aki, who are you talking to?" Ayako asked me confused.

"You," I said looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't you just ask me if I spotted anything yet?"

"No," She said wide-eyed. I heard someone laugh and I sighed in relief when I found a girl standing in the doorway.

"Don't scare us like that." I said sighing. She giggled.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. My name is Minoru Sachiko."

"I have a question about Naoki-kun." She nodded. "Well, it's about the school population in general. Do you happen to know if anyone here uses spirit boards?"

"Your boss asked the same thing. I don't know anyone but I've seen a few students have some weird looking paper with writing on them. I also heard a few girls in my class talking about their wishes coming true or something." She said shrugging. "I didn't catch any names though."

"It's alright, also about Naoki-kun, did he do something like that too?" Ayako asked her.

"Not that I know of, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did though."

"Why is that?" I asked her, curiously. This was getting interesting.

"Well, a few months ago, Kichirou asked me to be his girlfriend and I turned him down. He was upset with me and that's when he started to act weird. I would find him inside the library during breaks and he wouldn't talk to anyone else. He was always reading books about the paranormal. I mean it's okay if you read about it out of curiosity or something, but he would never put the book down long enough to talk to someone, or even eat." She said sadly. "At first, I thought he was doing it because he was still upset with me, but he told me he wasn't mad about that anymore. He hasn't said a word to me since then. I'm getting worried about him." I smiled.

"We'll get him straightened out," She smiled.

"Thanks," The bell rang and she left after waving to us. When she was gone, Ayako scowled at me.

"What?"

"We can't promise something like that will happen."

"We can always try." I said shrugging and looking around at the cafeteria. "Do you think we should check out the kitchen area?"

"No, I don't feel anything and stop changing the subject!" She said as we moved on to the empty classrooms that weren't used.

"I'm sorry, Ayako, but I really want this to work out for Minoru-chan." She sighed.

"I do too, just don't make any more promises like that, okay?"

"Sure, but you know, I didn't technically promise her that, I just said we'll get him straightened out."

"Yes, but it sounds like a promise." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, whatever, let's just move on." She grinned.

"Alright." We checked the rest of the school out and found nothing, besides the feeling of being watched, and by the time we got back to base, it was time for the test. Kazuo-san asked all the students and staff members to meet in gym. I wonder if Naru asked Kazuo-san if anyone wasn't here at school today. Oh well... We all met up at the gym and stood up on the stage as the students and staff members walked into the gym. Naru had a desk sitting in the middle of a stage with a machine that had a giant light on it. There was a switch at the base of the machine. I wonder what he's going to do with that. The lights went out and the students started muttering. Naru spoke clearly into a microphone after he turned on the machine. The light pulsed and it if I focused on it hard enough, it would make me sleepy.

"I want everyone to focus on the red light and match your breathing to it." The students actually did what he asked. I'm surprised. I mean if I didn't know Naru and he came into my school and told me to do that, I wouldn't have done it that's for sure. "Good, now tomorrow morning, this desk from classroom 3-A will be sitting outside the main doors of the school." He said putting his hand on the desk the machine was sitting on. I saw emotions like recognition or shock flicker across the faces of many students. "Please turn the lights back on." The lights came on and everyone was rubbing their eyes. Oh, I get it now. He used hypnosis on everyone in the room.

"What did we just prove?" I asked as we all headed back to base.

"If the desk is there where Naru said it will be, then the poltergeist activity is the cause of a human and if nothing happens, then we're dealing with a spirit." Monk explained.

"Is this test accurate?"

"100%" Naru answered. Confident much? I thought raising an eyebrow.

"It's worked before, so I don't see how it won't work now." Ayako said shrugging. I nodded.

"Let's call it day for now," Naru said as we walked into the room. It was well past lunch time and I was starving.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Monk said stretching a bit.

"Let's all meet up here at 6 tomorrow morning."

"Why so early?" I asked pouting. I hate getting up that early.

"Because if that desk is there in the morning, then we don't want the students crowding around it before we get there." Mai answered smiling at me. I sighed.

"I guess you have a point." Lin pulled me aside before we left. "You want to talk about what I told you earlier, huh?"

"Yes, why didn't you say anything? You could've been killed!" I frowned.

"Like I told Naru and Mai, it was put out of my mind after I went into work. That café is my getaway from school and, I'll admit, my issues with the paranormal. Nothing bad ever happens there and it makes me feel safe. So when I walked into the café, I let my guard down and stopped thinking about the incidents. That's what I do when I go to work, I stop thinking about the negative things and focus on work instead." I said feeling a little ashamed. I didn't want to tell anyone about how I really felt about being able to communicate with spirits like they were alive and seeing them. Negative things always happened whenever I came across a spirit, so I guess I unconsciously think it's a bad thing to be able to see and communicate with them. Lin hugged me.

"I'm sorry you feel that way about the paranormal. I understand there's a reason for you feeling that way and I'm willing to listen to your reasons. I want to help you understand that it's not all bad when it comes to spirits." I smiled and hugged him back.

"Thanks, Lin. That means a lot."

"You're welcome, Aki." The two of us let go each other and followed everyone out to the entrance of the school. Mai and I decided to take the train home and Naru told us to call him if we were to find ourselves in some kind of trouble like the night before. We agreed to it and walked to the train station.

"It's definitely been an eventful day." I said as we walked.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted."

"I'm just hungry." She giggled.

"Do you want to call Michiru and Keiko and ask them to meet up at the café, so we can grab some dinner?"

"Heck yeah!" She grinned.

"Alright, I'll call Keiko and you call Michiru."

"I have no problems with that." So after coordinating everything, we met up with the girls at the café I currently work and got half priced dinner. The perks of working here. I thought grinning.

"This is so good," I said melting a little bit inside.

"Aki, it's just food." Keiko said giggling.

"Yeah, but I haven't eaten anything since breakfast this morning." I pouted. "Besides, Mai and I have been working really hard today."

"Are you two working on a new case at SPR?" Michiru asked after swallowing some food.

"Yeah, Naru asked Aki to stand in for Masako. I guess Masako had something to do with her producer or something." Mai said shrugging.

"That must be cool, getting a break from the café," Michiru said looking at me. I shrugged.

"Yeah, but I honestly would rather work here. Don't get me wrong, I love myself a good mystery, but it gets a bit too gloomy for my taste."

"I understand that." Mai said grinning. "I don't mind the gloominess at all. I like the fact that I'm helping someone and I love the paranormal; even though it gets a little scary sometimes."

"Yeah, it does get pretty scary, doesn't it?" I asked a bit distantly. It has been getting dangerous lately with the incidents escalating. I hope there's something Lin and Naru can do to help me. I don't want the incidents to happen anymore. I want them to stop. I'm afraid that if they don't, then I will end up dying because of them. I hope I don't stick around after I die. I don't want to be one of those spirits that cause trouble for others.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

December

Day 2

The next morning, Mai and I got up around 4:30 so that we would have enough time to get in the shower. While we were eating breakfast, Mai asked, "So when are you moving into your apartment?"

"I was thinking of moving in after this case. Initially, I was going to just do it Sunday evening, but you know how that ended." Mai nodded.

"Do you want me to help? I'm sure Naru wouldn't mind letting me off a little early to help."

"Yeah, that'd be great. I mean, I don't have that much stuff, but I do appreciate the help." I said smiling. She grinned.

"That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right," I said grinning.

"Do you think the desk is going to be sitting in front of the school?"

"No, Ayako and I both sensed something staring at us, but I couldn't see it. I think it was hiding itself from me."

"I had a weird dream last night." She said thoughtfully.

"What was it about?"

"It was about Naoki-kun's rejection. I felt so bad for him."

"Did it go the way Minoru-chan said it did?"

"That's where it got weird. Naoki-kun told Minoru-chan his feelings about her but she just rolled her eyes. She wasn't very nice about it at all. She told him she liked Kosuke-kun and called him pathetic." I frowned.

"Really? She seemed so nice..." Mai shrugged.

"That's just what I saw."

"Ayako and I talked to her yesterday when we did our walkthrough. She told us she wouldn't be surprised if Naoki-kun used a spirit board and she seemed genuinely sad when he stopped talking to her."

"Maybe it's because he doesn't give her any attention. I mean, I've heard some stories about her from the other students that came in and it sounded to me like she enjoyed a lot of attention. Of course, Naru didn't care about that." I laughed.

"Yeah, Naru isn't the type to care about school drama." She giggled.

"That's so true."

"So, what Minoru-chan said to Naoki-kun made him angry, so he decided to take his anger out on Kosuke-kun? That means he still has feelings for Minoru-chan." Mai nodded, thoughtfully.

"I feel really bad for Naoki-kun, though."

"Yeah, but if he continues to use Hitogata, then he might end up doing more harmful things than making Kosuke-kun fall out of his seat."

"I know," She said frowning. "We had a case where a teacher used the Hitogata on the students because they made fun of people who could bend spoons but eventually couldn't do it anymore."

"That's just wrong, taking it out on students." She nodded.

"Yeah, she turned herself into the police and confessed to everything."

"That's good,"

"We'd better hurry, or we'll be late." Mai said standing up. I pouted.

"I still don't like getting up this early." She smiled.

"I don't either, but I do want to finish this case as soon as possible. This case is kind of scary, with the window breaking and stuff."

"I agree," I said as we hurried to the train station. We made it with two minutes to spare and Naru and the others were waiting on us. "I thought we were never going to make it."

"Yeah, that traffic jam was horrible." Mai said as we tried to catch our breath. We had to take the bus from the train station because we knew we wouldn't make it on time if we walked. The traffic jam was unexpected and it took its sweet time to straighten itself out.

"All that matters is that you're here." Yasu said smiling. We nodded.

"We haven't checked out the doors yet." Monk said yawning a little at the end. Naru nodded to everyone before we entered the school's gates. When we got to the front doors, the desk wasn't there.

"Wow, Aki, you were right!" Mai said surprised. I chuckled.

"Well, even though I said that, I still wasn't sure if it really was going to be here or not."

"What was your reason for believing that it wasn't going to be there?" Lin asked curiously.

"Well, Ayako and I felt something staring at us by the tennis courts. Now, normally I can't sense the presence of spirits, so either it was a spirit hiding themselves, or there really was a student staring at us. John felt it too, right?"

"Right," John confirmed, nodding.

"So, I'm thinking a student has been following us around and trying to see what we're up to."

"Could it be, Minoru-san?" Mai asked curiously.

"No, I think it's Naoki-kun. We haven't met him right?"

"That's true," Naru said sighing. "Kazuo-san confirmed that he didn't show up for classes yesterday."

"So that means he couldn't have been following us." Mai said confused.

"Mai, just because someone skips out on classes, it doesn't mean that they don't show up to school." Yasu said smiling at her.

"Oh,"

"As soon as the students start to show up, Aki and Yasuhara, I want you two to ask the students if they saw Naoki-san yesterday." Naru said thoughtfully. We nodded.

"Do you think there's a chance he may have put a new Hitogata by the tennis courts yesterday after Ayako, Yasu, John, and I had left?" I asked thoughtfully.

"That could be why he was there in the first place." Naru said nodding. "I want you two to be careful. Lin and I will go over the video and audio."

"What about the rest of us?" Monk asked curiously.

"I want you, Miss Matsuzaki, and John to walk through the school, see if you find anything. Mai, I want you to go to the classroom and music room and record the temperatures."

"What about the tennis courts?"

"Yasu and I can check it out after we ask the students if they've seen Naoki-kun yesterday." I offered.

"No, leave the tennis courts to Lin and I." Naru said sternly. I shrugged.

"Alright, but you should take your own advice and be careful." I said grinning. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lin chuckled.

"Don't worry, Aki. I'll keep an eye on him." I nodded and the eight of us entered the school, or at least tried to. I gasped.

"The desk," Mai said shocked.

"Well, this just got more interesting." Monk said shocked as the desk from classroom 3-A sat in front of us.

"It looks like we're going to have to use the same method as we did in Yasuhara's school." Lin said thoughtfully.

"And it looks like we're going to have to confront Naoki-kun about the Hitogata." Ayako said frowning.

"So, are we going to leave the desk here?" I asked after a few moments of intense silence. Everyone just stared at me.

"What? It's a genuine question! Is it okay for the students to not see the desk?"

"Yes, we'll leave the desk. It being here means that Naoki-san was in the gym with the rest of the student body and staff. If he comes to school today, he'll probably see it or hear about it, and will get nervous." Naru said thoughtfully.

"Maybe he'll eventually come and talk to us." Monk said hopefully.

"Somehow, I don't think that's going to happen." I said sighing. If only it would be that easy. Monk shrugged.

"You never know." He said grinning at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Oh really now?"

"Yep," I said grinning. "Come, Yasu, let us scope out the school and plan how we shall corner the students, so that they can give us the information we need!" Yasu chuckled.

"Aye, sir!" He said saluting me. Naru shook his head as Yasu and I passed the desk. I paused for a second. There was something off about that desk.

"What's wrong?" Yasu asked me. I shook my head.

"It's probably nothing, let's go!" He shrugged and the two of walked around the school a bit.

"Hm, wouldn't it make more sense to corner them in the cafeteria?" Yasu asked five minutes later after discussing a little bit about the whole case so far.

"Yeah, but we need more than one place to corner them, don't you think?"

"That's true."

"For example, I'm sure there are students who hang out in the library until classes start."

"Yeah, or maybe the track,"

"Exactly, there are plenty of places to look," I said grinning.

"I guess we can always check out the club rooms if no one in the cafeteria, library, or track knows anything."

"Yeah, if they want to talk that is."

"What do you mean?"

"I just have a feeling that this school like all schools have its secrets."

"Well, you're right about that. I did some more digging on the school and it turns out there was an incident where a student committed suicide a few years ago. And get this, they jumped out of the classroom with the broken window. Actually, they jumped from that exact window." I shivered.

"Yasu, that is creepy. I do have one question though. Wouldn't activity normally happen after a person commits suicide?"

"Yes, you're right." Yasu said frowning.

"Yasu, when you did a background check on Kazuo-san, did you happen to find out when he started working here?"

"He's been the principal for ten years now."

"Yet, he didn't mention the suicide or the possible activity that had happened."

"Maybe he thought it would go away if he just ignored it." Yasu said shrugging. "I know some people who are like that."

"I think we should talk to Kazuo-san and ask him about this." He smiled.

"I agree, but we should talk to the students first."

"Yeah, we don't want Naru to get too angry with us." I said grinning.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

No One's P.O.V

"Are you sure it's a good idea to send those mystery otakus together?" Monk asked uncertainly. Naru sighed.

"No, but they get more helpful information."

"That's true, but still…" Monk was frowning.

"They'll be fine." Mai said grinning. She thought it was amusing that Naru didn't think it would be a good idea to send Aki and Yasu to go do something like interview people. Monk shrugged.

"Actually, Monk, I think you should go with Mai, just to be safe." Naru said thoughtfully.

"Alright, looks like it's just you and me, Mai!" Monk said grinning. Mai giggled as she got her clipboard, thermometer, and pen and followed Monk out of the room. Ayako and John set out to walk the school again.

"Is everything ready, Lin?"

"I'm pulling up the video and audio from last night right now." Lin said as he turned a few nobs and hit a few buttons. The video feed was pulled up and Naru began to scan over the different video cameras. Everything looked peaceful up until about two o'clock in the morning, when you could see the desk moving out of the classroom. Naru watch it go out of the picture frame, then,

"Pause it right there." Lin did as he was told. Naru saw a shadow of a person near the one of the windows. "Do you see that shadow?"

"Yes, unfortunately, we can't really discern if it's a living person or a spirit."

"Can you ask Kazuo-san to let us see the school's security camera for this room?"

"Of course. Will you be fine here by yourself?"

"Yes, I don't believe there are any spirits doing this." Lin waited a minute longer to make sure Naru wasn't lying to him before leaving the room. Naru frowned at the paused video. Was that Naoki-kun? Or was it like Aki said, a spirit who's hiding itself? Naru really wished Hara-san was able to join them. He felt things would go a little easier if she was with them, but he knew that was wishful thinking and immediately cleared his head from it. That wasn't the problem right now. Right now, he needed to find out who was in that class room last night.

Mai's P.O.V

Monk and I are in the classroom with the broken window. Even though Monk is with me, it's still creepy in here. "Ne, Monk, what do you think about the case so far?" I asked him curiously.

"Well," He said, thoughtfully. "I'm not completely sure. I mean, Aki hasn't seen any spirits, the desk ended up in front of the school doors, but we've all felt something here, and then there's the broken window, which we haven't found any logical explanation for except that a spirit did it. Plus, there's the fact that Kazuo-san hasn't reported any kind of paranormal activity in all the time he's worked here until now. I think this whole case is weird. I feel like we're missing something though." I nodded.

"I bet Yasu found something out and hasn't had the chance to tell us yet."

"Yeah, I bet you're right. He probably went and told Aki about it too." Monk said sighing. "That means those two are going to probably investigate on their own a little and then whenever they find something, they'll share with the rest of us." I grinned.

"But that's how they always are when they find something interesting."

"I know, but if something were to happen to the two of them, Naru will get upset with them for going off on their own and not telling us what's going on." I frowned.

"Yeah, but Aki knows a protective spell now and I know Yasu wouldn't let anything happen to her or himself." I believe in them. Monk smiled.

"I understand now Mai. I just have to believe in them more." I smiled and nodded. Suddenly I heard some sort of whispering near the blackboard.

"M-Monk, do you hear that?" Monk frowned and listened closely.

"That's whispering."

"I think it's coming from the blackboard."

"But there's nothing there." I whimpered as the classroom door slammed shut. Monk put me behind him and glared at the door. He started his mantras but we didn't see anything. The next thing I know another one of the classroom windows broke. I screamed as the glass exploded everywhere and rained down on us. Monk tried to shield me as much as possible, but I still felt a few shards nick my skin. There were knocking sounds and the room was shaking. Papers were flying everywhere as if a gust of wind was hitting the room continuously. A desk flew at us and luckily we successfully dodged it. The desk hit the blackboard and broke. Vulgar words were scratched into the blackboard and I covered my ears at the horrendous noise that managed to be heard over the loud knocking sounds. Monk was saying his mantras ninety miles a minute. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it all stopped.

As soon as the papers all settled on the floor, I managed to say, "Monk, what was that?"

"I don't know, Mai. I wish Aki was here, maybe she would've seen something." I shuddered.

"T-That was terrifying."

"Yeah, let's get out of here. Did you get the room temperature before this all happened?"

"It was the same as yesterday."

"Check it now." I checked it and was shocked.

"It's twenty degrees cooler in here!" Monk frowned.

"I thought so. Let's get back to Naru and tell him what just happened." I nodded and followed Monk back to base. I hope Aki and Yasu are safe.

Aki's P.O.V

It's about time. I thought as the students finally started arriving. They were all talking about the desk as they walked into the school building. "Are you ready, my Watson?"

"Sherlock Holmes?"

"Yeah, I've read a few stories." Yasu chuckled.

"So why am I Watson?" I shrugged.

"You don't have to be. I just wanted to say it." I said grinning. He grinned.

"I agree, it is fun to say." Besides, I know I'm not that smart and I'm definitely not _that_ good with observation. Yasu and I entered the cafeteria and found our first victim, I mean, interviewee. It was a small 1st year girl. She of course was wearing the school uniform and she had her hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing a blue ribbon with it too. She looked really cute!

"Hello, my name is Aki and this here is Yasu." I told her as soon as we cornered her at a table. She didn't look nervous to be talking with us.

"You work with Shibuya-san, don't you?"

"Yes, we were wondering if you could answer a few questions." Yasu told her nicely. She nodded.

"Okay, ask away." She even sounded cute! Man, I wish I was back in middle school. Everyone seemed a lot cuter then. Okay, maybe not everyone. I thought thinking of Minoru-chan. If what Mai saw in her dream is true, which I hear she's always been correct so far, then I wouldn't want to go back to middle school.

"Other than what's happened in classroom 3-A, the tennis courts, and the music room, have you noticed anything else strange?" She looked thoughtful for a few minutes.

"Well, I heard a few years ago, a student jumped out of the window in classroom 3-A."

"Was it always a classroom?" I asked her curiously.

"I think it was part of an old observatory room, so it had a balcony with telescopes and stuff. I think I heard one of the older students say that they got rid of the room and made it into two classrooms after that. The room was big enough to fit two classrooms in it at the time." She said shrugging.

"I see. Have you noticed anything else?" Yasu asked her.

"Well, sometimes I hear someone arguing in the Biology lab on the second floor during after school hours. And when I go to check it out, there's no one in there." That's something new.

"Could you tell what kind of voices they were?"

"Well, they were both definitely male, one voice was deeper than the other's. But it's funny. I couldn't understand what they were saying. Their voices sounded muffled." She said thoughtfully. "Other than that, I haven't noticed anything." I smiled.

"Thanks very much. Oh, we didn't catch your name." I told her.

"Oh, sorry." She said grinning. "I'm Yoshida Ren, 1st year, class 1-A."

"So you're classroom is a few floors underneath classroom 3-A?" Yasu asked curiously.

"No, we're underneath classroom 2-C. The school is designed weirdly." She said shrugging.

"Okay, thank you for everything, Yoshida-chan. You've been very helpful." She nodded as Yasu and I stood up and left.

"Do you think she was lying?"

"No, usually when people lie, either they look to the side or their pupils dilate, right?"

"Right and Yoshida-san's eyes didn't do either of those things." I grinned.

"Exactly. Now we have more information to take back to Naru."

"I think we should write it down before we forget."

"Good idea." I said as I rummaged around my pockets for my phone. After putting in what we just learned and saving it in my notes section of my phone, Yasu and I headed towards the library. I noticed a few students become more reserved while we talked to Yoshida-chan.

"I hope we can find another person who will talk to us. It seems the more students who see us talking to others, the more reserved they become about talking to us." Yasu said after talking to a few people in the halls as we made our way to the library. We didn't get any useful information out of them.

"Yeah, it's getting really hard to get any information out of them, huh?" I said as we entered the library. The only problem was that it was void of all people, except for the librarian. "Well, I was totally wrong about the students coming in here to hang out before school starts." Yasu chuckled.

"We can always go to the track."

"Yeah, I guess so." I said sighing. I actually wanted to go back to the tennis courts and check that out some more, but I knew that if Naru found out, he'd be furious with me. And I don't want him to lecture me more. It is not fun being lectured by Naru. He always manages to make you feel like an idiot. I mean I know he cares and all, but he doesn't have to make me feel like an idiot to get his point across. It's not necessary; at least I don't think so. He might think so, though. Eh, whatever. Why am I thinking about this again?

Again, students stared at us as Yasu and I made our way towards the track. There were students lazing about in the grass, talking to each other. Again I heard the topic of the desk from classroom 3-A come up. The only problem was that as soon as we got to the edge of the track, the school bell rang and all of the students rushed off to class. "Darn, we took too much time in the school." I said pouting. Yasu chuckled.

"We still haven't talked to Kazuo-san about the student who committed suicide in that classroom."

"Oh yeah!" I said perking right back up. "I wonder if he's in his office."

"There's only one way to find out."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Yasu and I did find Kazuo-san in his office. He was just finishing up this morning's announcements. "What can I do for you two?" He asked once he was finished.

"We wanted to know why you waited until now to report the poltergeist activity." Yasu said as he and I took a seat in front of Kazuo-san's desk.

"W-What are you talking about?" Kazuo-san asked nervously.

"We know about the student who jumped out of the window in classroom 3-A. Now, usually people who kill themselves will become restless spirits and we think that student is the cause of the broken window." I told him frowning. "I just don't see why you didn't tell us this, unless you're hiding something from us." Kazuo-san sighed.

"You're right. I am hiding something." Surprise, surprise…. I was right! Love that sarcasm! "After that student committed suicide, their parents got really upset with the school and made a big fuss with the media before they moved away. I've been trying so hard these last few years to keep the media from hounding my students. I've gone around and asked the students what that student's purpose for doing such a thing and not one of them could tell me. I got angry with them, because I knew they were hiding something. I finally found out that the boys' basketball team was somehow involved with the death and after questioning them one by one for a whole month, they finally talked. They had said they didn't mean for that student to fall out of the window. I was so shocked. I mean, what are you supposed to say to a group of students who pushed another student out the window?" Kazuo-san was in tears. "I didn't want to report them to the authorities, it was an accident after all." Whoa, I was not expecting that. "Y-You're not going to go to the authorities are you?"

"No, and I'm sure our boss will agree. What happens in this school regarding to normal stuff is not our business. It does help us with cases though, so if you ever have problems again, remember to not leave out any details." I said as Yasu and I stood up. Kazuo-san stood up as well and bowed to us.

"Thank you so much! You have no idea how much joy it brings me to hear you say that! Don't worry, if problems occur again in the future, I won't forget to share all of the details. Thank you."

"Oh and Kazuo-san, do you happen to know if Naoki-kun showed up for school today?"

"Let me see," Kazuo-san said as he went through some papers. Really? They don't store that stuff on a computer? What century does this school live in anyways? "No, it seems he hasn't showed up today." I nodded.

"Thank you for your help, Kazuo-san." Yasu and I bowed before leaving. Well, that didn't go quite like I expected it to. I thought frowning.

"Well, that was different, wasn't it?" Yasu said smiling as we passed classroom 3-A.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that at all. I wonder what Naru is going to think of this all."

"He probably won't say anything at all or he might just say good job and give us our next assignment." I grinned, laughing a little.

"Yep, it definitely sounds like Naru." Yasu chuckled just as we entered the base. I was shocked to see Monk and Mai bent over, trying to catch up their breathing.

"What happened?" I asked worriedly.

"We were just in classroom 3-A checking the temperature and then suddenly I heard whispering by the blackboard." Mai said shuddering.

"It quickly escalated from there." Monk said shaking his head. "The room started shaking, there were loud banging noises, another window broke, and a desk got thrown at us! And none of my mantras worked on it."

"Maybe Naoki-kun has latent psychic abilities that he wasn't even aware of?" I asked curiously. Naru looked thoughtful.

"It's a possibility. What did you two find?" I grinned as Yasu and I retold everything we just learned to Naru.

"What was the girl's name?" Lin asked after we told them about the Biology lab.

"Her name is Yoshida Ren-chan. She's from class 1-A. We asked her about the how the rooms in this school were constructed and she told us her class is directly over classroom 2-C." I answered. "What did you guys find?"

"We found the footage of the desk moving, but that's about it." Naru said sighing. I wonder what's going on in that head of his. He's a pretty smart guy, but don't tell Naru I thought that!

"Oh yeah, Mai, did you tell Naru about the dream you had last night?" Her eyes grew to the size of large plates.

"I completely forgot about it! I got so preoccupied with the desk and everything." Mai said smiling sheepishly as Naru once again sighed.

"So what did you see?" Monk asked her.

"I saw Naoki-kun's rejection and Minoru-chan was very mean towards him about it. She called him some not so nice things. I saw a dark look in his eyes after she walked off."

"And here I was thinking that she was nice." Ayako said as she and John walked in.

"Did you guys find anything?" Monk asked her.

"No, we didn't even sense anything."

"That could mean that even though Naoki-kun didn't show up in class, there's the possibility that he really didn't come to school today." I said frowning. After filling her and John in on the rest, we all took a break. It was nearing lunch time and we were all hungry. So we decided to go eat at a nearby deli. Ooh, they made some good sandwiches.

"Now what are we going to do?" Mai asked as we ate. It was a question that I knew was on all of our minds.

"Well, we can confirm that Naoki-san is the one who's making the Hitogata and has latent psychic powers. But we still have to deal with the student who committed suicide." Naru said after taking a drink of his water.

"I haven't found the student's name yet, but I'm hoping that Kazuo-san can give me all the information I need to know." Yasu said sitting his own glass of water down on the table. Naru nodded.

"It's weird though. I haven't seen any spirits at all since we've started the case." I said frowning.

"There video camera in 3-A should've gotten everything on film. So when we get back, you can take a look at it." Lin said after swallowing. I nodded. It's still really weird though. It's almost similar to the incidents that keep happening to me; only this time I don't see anything at all, whereas with the incidents I'm starting to see shadows. Well whatever we're dealing with, it's pretty violent and it's clearly stated that it doesn't want anything to do with us so far. It pretty much attacked Mai and Monk already. After our lunch, we headed back to the school. It looked like the students were just getting back from lunch too. I heard snatches of conversations as we walked to base. Some students were talking about Yasu and I talking to a few students and others were still talking about the desk. Then I heard something interesting.

"I bet Naoki-kun had something to do with all of this." It was a middle school girl that I'm pretty sure is in Yoshida-chan's class. The girl's friend giggled.

"Yeah, right. He just talks big. There's no way he knows how to curse someone!"

"Excuse me!" I said grabbing her arm. She squealed. "Hi, I'm sorry. My name is Aki. I have a question to ask just before you go to class."

"W-What is it?" She asked nervously.

"Have you seen Naoki-kun at all yesterday or today?"

"No, he hasn't shown up for class at all for the last three days. I guess today would make it the fourth day since he's been to class."

"Would you mind coming by and letting one of us know if you do see him? Even if he's just in the hallways or outside of the school or on the track."

"S-Sure, I'll let the rest of my class know."

"Oh, one more thing. You're not in the same class as Yoshida-chan?"

"N-No, I'm in the same class as Minoru-chan though. Yoshida-chan is a few years younger than us."

"Okay, thanks a lot. Uh, what was your name again, sorry?"

"Oh, it's okay!" She said smiling. "I'm Rikuto Kanon."

"Thank you very much." She nodded and left with her friend.

"Good call." Ayako said when we finally got back to the base. I shrugged.

"I obtained a habit of listening to the snippets of conversations as I went to class back in America and it looks like it turned out to be more useful than I thought it would."

"The reaction on that girls face though when you grabbed her by her arm was hilarious." Monk said snickering.

"Now, now, Takigawa-san. You can't blame her for being jumpy after the desk." John said smiling at him.

"I know, but that doesn't mean it isn't funny."

"Well, I didn't mean to scare her. I just knew that if I didn't stop her right then and there, then she wouldn't have said anything to me later if I had waited to talk to her after school or tomorrow." I said shrugging.

"That's pretty logical considering all the students who wouldn't talk us today." Yasu said as Lin brought up the footage about classroom 3-A. I heard about what happened but watching it on video makes it look several times worse than what I imagined. Mai seemed to have forgotten about the glass shards cutting her, because when that part came, Ayako got onto her for not saying anything earlier.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about them!" She said as Ayako bandaged her up. I chuckled. I would've forgotten them too if I had gone through the things she went through in that room. So far though, I don't see any spirits. I frowned.

"Have you checked that room for Hitogata since this morning?" I asked no one in particular. "I'm not seeing any spirits or even a shadow. I think this could've been Naoki-kun. He must've been upset with us for not seeking him out sooner or something."

"No one has checked it since yesterday." Naru confirmed. I nodded.

"We really need to talk to Naoki-kun as soon as possible." Naru sighed.

"Yes, but while we track him down, I want Monk and John to look for Hitogata again. This time, we should probably search the room next to 3-A."

"But that class has students in it right now." Monk said frowning. "Shouldn't we wait until school is out before searching that class?" Naru sighed once again.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I just want to end this before anyone gets seriously hurt." Yeah, that would suck.

"I agree," I told him smiling. "Yasu, Mai, Ayako, and I will scour the school on foot."

"Alright, just be careful everyone." We nodded and set off to find Naoki-kun.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We decided to split up into two's and search for Naoki-kun that way. Ayako went with Yasu and I went with Mai. "Where should we start looking?" Mai asked curiously.

"The rooftop. If I were to skip class, I'd go up there. No one really thinks to bother you up there." I said shrugging. She nodded and we made our way to the rooftop.

"Sometimes I go up there when Michiru and Keiko are busy." She said looking a little sad.

"What's wrong Mai?" She smiled.

"It's nothing really. It's just sometimes I feel a little lonely, but it never lasts long because I remember that I have everyone who works with Naru and Lin as my family. Michiru and Keiko are family too, and so are you." She said warmly. I smiled.

"I'll have to agree with you there." I felt the same way about Lin, Naru, and the others. They were all like a family to me. I also have Hajime-san and Suzuki-san. I finally ended up telling them about the situation with my parents and brother. And they have supported me ever since. I've even hung out with Hajime-san outside of work a few times. She is a wonderful cook. I wish I had her cooking skills. I kind of suck at cooking. Anyways, she lives with her two younger siblings, who are still in high school like me. She has to take care of them because her parents died in traffic accident. She works really hard for her family. I also got to know her siblings. They go to a different school than Mai and I, but I did get to the chance to hang out with them too. They're really nice and despite everything they've been through, they're relatively happy with their lives. I'm glad for them.

Mai and I made it to the school's roof top and I was disappointed to see that Naoki-kun wasn't here. "Aw, I thought we would find him here for sure." Mai smiled.

"You can't expect to find him so quickly."

"I guess so." It was true that Naoki-kun managed to stay hidden from everyone so far. Hm… "Do you think he's in a club of some sort?"

"We could ask." Mai said as we headed back down to the school. Luckily for us, we found Minoru-chan on her way to gym from the looks of it.

"Excuse me, Minoru-chan?" She looked at us and smiled.

"Yes?"

"Do you know if Naoki-kun is any clubs?" She looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

"Well, I know he's in the art club and last year he got into the school's orchestra club."

"There's an orchestra club?" Mai asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but it's nothing special. The school can't afford a lot of instruments, so there's only a few violinists, a cellist, and a pianist. I think Kosuke-kun was going to try out for it."

"By the way, what instrument does he play?" I asked curiously. I used to play the clarinet when I lived in America for a few years.

"He plays the contrabass and he's really good at it too." She said beaming.

"What instrument did Naoki-kun play?" Mai asked curiously.

"Let's see, I think he played the trumpet. He wasn't that good at it, but he kept practicing though. Then I don't know what happened at the end of last year. He quit the night of a really important concert; like right before they were about to start too." She said frowning. "He went back to art club this year."

"Okay, thanks a lot, Minoru-chan." I said smiling at her. She nodded and went off to lunch. "Let's check out the art club." Mai nodded.

"Ne, Aki, why did you want to know what instrument Kosuke-kun played?" I shrugged.

"I used to play the clarinet in America. It was a rental so I didn't get to keep it after middle school." I said shrugging.

"That's cool!" I chuckled.

"Yeah, but I'm not that good at it."

"Our school has a music class."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have the money to even rent an instrument, let alone buy one." I said shaking my head. "Those things are really expensive."

"Oh, well, I still want to hear you play sometime." She said grinning. I shrugged.

"Maybe," The two of us made it to the art club room and found that no one was inside. "Hm, maybe we'll have to check out the orchestra club room after all."

"I bet it's the music room."

"Or not…" I said as we found the room. It was small, but big enough to fit the instruments. I wish I could play the violin. But my brain makes it hard for me to comprehend how to play string instruments.

"Wow, these instruments look beautiful."

"Yeah," I said as we looked around the nooks and crannies of the room.

"Hey, there's a door over here." I went over to where Mai was and as she said there was a door there.

"It might just be a closet." I said as we opened it. "Or not…" There was a straight, narrow hallway behind this door and on the other side was another door. We went to the door and opened it to find Ayako and Yasu standing in the music room. "How did we not notice this door before?" I asked frowning.

"That's what we've been wondering." Yasu said chuckling.

"Did you guys ask Minoru-chan as well about Naoki-kun's clubs?" Ayako asked.

"Yep, but still no sign of Naoki-kun himself."

"Maybe he really didn't come to school today." Mai suggested.

"Yeah, maybe…"

"What's wrong?" Ayako asked frowning.

"I was just thinking. If Naoki-kun put another Hitogata in that classroom, when did he do it? I'm sure we would've seen him on camera or hear him through the mic at least. But Naru didn't find anything in that room except for the desk moving."

"Maybe there's a secret room like there is for this room." Yasu said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, that would explain the shadow in the room." I said, excitedly. This meant that we were getting closer to the end of this mystery. Hopefully this case will help me understand what's been attacking me ever since I was little.

"We should head back to the base and tell Naru what we've come up with so far." Mai said frowning.

"Hm, I want to keep looking for him. I just want to be sure we're not missing anything." I said shrugging.

"Alright, I'll come with you." Yasu said smiling. I nodded.

"Just be careful, you two." Ayako said before she and Mai left the room.

"I kind of want to go check classroom 3-A."

"I do too, now that I know there's a possibility that there's a secret room somewhere in there." I grinned.

"Alright, let's get going then." He nodded and the two of us went back to classroom 3-A. It was weird walking in there and seeing the second broken window. It was almost as if the student who got pushed out, went back and actually jumped out the window. The first place I wanted to look was the camera's blind spot and that happened to be in the far left corner of the room near the blackboard.

"This is where the shadow was seen in the video." Yasu said standing in the exact spot.

"Whoever made the shadow was standing in the blind spot." I said as I examined the wall. There was no visible door, so I started knocking on the wall to see if there was a hollow spot. "I found one!" I said feeling shocked. I didn't think that would actually work.

"Found one what?"

"A secret door, I think."

"Let's give it a try, shall we?" I grinned.

"Let's do it!" We pressed on the hollow space and we heard a clicking sound. The wall swung open like a door and Yasu and I shared a look before going in. Well this is interesting. "I wonder where it leads to."

"I guess there's only one way to find out." I frowned.

"I really want to explore, but I think we should tell Naru about this." Yasu smiled.

"Yes, Shibuya-san would probably be angry with us if we didn't tell him about this, huh?"

"Yeah, I don't really feel like being lectured by Naru today." Yasu chuckled.

"Understood, let's head back." I nodded and the two of us went to go back, but the door wouldn't open.

"Well this is most unfortunate."

"It looks like we have no other choice now."

"Yeah," Naru was going to be angry with us if we ever get out of this mess. We turned back and started our journey down the dark corridor. "There's a door here." I said looking to my right. I tried the door and it opened fairly easy.

"Someone's been using this door." Yasu said as we walked in and looked around.

"Isn't this the Biology lab?" I asked thinking out loud.

"You're right it is."

"Hm, who was it that said this place was haunted?"

"Yoshida-san I believe."

"But how did we end up on the second floor? It didn't feel like we were walking up a slope in that tunnel."

"I think that has something to do with the way the building was built. It's been built on a hill, so it gives the illusion that you're walking a straight, narrow path when really you're going up a slope." Yasu said thoughtfully. I shrugged. It made sense. "Well, we're out of the tunnel. Let's head back to base and talk to Naru about the tunnel before we explore it some more. I would like to know what's at the end of this tunnel and see if there are any more rooms connected to it."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

About five steps before we got to the bottom of the stairs, I felt something push me. Letting out a startled scream, I found myself sitting at the bottom of the steps. "Ow," I groaned as Yasu helped me up.

"Aki, are you okay?"

"Yeah, nothing broken or sprained." I said rubbing my soar backside.

"What happened?"

"I felt something push me."

"Do you see anything?" I looked around and frowned.

"No, there's no one here. This case is so weird."

"I agree." Finally the two of us got back to base.

"What took you two so long?" Monk asked curiously.

"Well, we didn't find Naoki-kun, but we did find out how he's been able to move around without being seen." I said grinning. "Naru, you remember that video of the desk moving and you saw the shadow of something near the window?" He nodded. "I'm 100% positive that that was Naoki-kun."

"Wow, that's a lot of confidence." Ayako said smirking. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"So how did he do it then?" Mai asked curiously.

"Well, after you and Ayako left, Yasu and I decided to go look at the classroom with the broken windows and see if there was a secret passage way too and there was! Yasu and I kind of went in but as soon as we went to turn back, we couldn't get out. So we went a little further down the corridor and about half way through we found a door on the right side of the corridor. We found ourselves in the Biology lab after going through it. We didn't go all the way down the corridor because we figured we should tell you guys in case something happened." I said shrugging.

"Also, on our way back here, something pushed Aki down the stairs." Yasu said smiling. I scowled at him.

"You made that sound way worse than it really was!"

"Are you alright, Aki?" John asked me in concern.

"Yeah, I just fell down like five steps. Really it isn't a big deal. I didn't break or sprain anything." Naru narrowed his eyes at me.

"What? You don't believe me?" He just sighed.

"Do you think that corridor you and Yasu found is connected to the corridor between the music room and orchestra club?" Mai asked curiously.

"Hm, I don't think so. I don't remember seeing any other doors in that corridor, do you Yasu?" Ayako asked him. He shook his head.

"No, I don't remember seeing any either."

"Same here," I said in agreement. "But I do believe there are more corridors like those around this school. We just have to find them all. Ne, Yasu, how come you didn't see those in the blueprints of this school?" I asked him frowning.

"The map I saw looked newer, so that might be it. And I think the original blueprints got lost when the school's record room caught on fire. No one was injured or killed, but the school lost a lot of important data." He said shrugging.

"Did you check out the tennis courts?" John asked Naru and Lin. The two nodded.

"Yes, we didn't find any Hitogata, but we did find a basement of sorts not too far from the courts. We think it's connected to the school somehow." Lin said as he typed a few things on his computer. He must be putting in the information we've found so far.

"Also, it looked like someone's been in it recently. We think that's how Naoki-kun is entering the school without being seen." Naru said as took a drink of his tea. That would make sense since none of the staff or students have seen him.

"We should check out the corridor and see if we can find any more clues about Naoki-kun's whereabouts." Lin suggested.

"I agree. Monk, you, Matsuzaki-san, and Lin will check out the basement. John, you will go with Aki, Yasu, and myself to check out the corridor. Mai, stay here and watch the base."

"Aye sir!" Monk, Mai, Yasu, and I said grinning at him. We were finally getting to the bottom of this mystery. Yasu and I showed Naru and John where the corridor was and showed them the door to the Biology Lab. The corridor ran deeper than I had originally thought. We ended up somehow back on first floor. I could tell because while we were walking along, I felt like I was walking diagonally.

"Hey, this isn't funny." Ayako's voice said a few feet in front of us. We couldn't really see since it was dark, so Naru pointed his flashlight in her direction.

"Well, it looks like it is connected." Yasu said smiling.

"What did you three find?" Naru asked them.

"Well, there was a basement like you thought. There were some boxes with old telescopes and astronomy books. There were some shelves full of books about the paranormal. There were some pages from a book describing how to make Hitogata taped on one of the walls too." Monk reported.

"So, Naoki-kun has definitely been down here." I said thoughtfully.

"But the problem is, Naoki-kun isn't here. We've searched everywhere for him, including down here and we've yet to see him." Ayako said looking frustrated. Naru frowned.

"Let's return to base. We need to go over all the information we have already." He said sighing. Everyone agreed and decided it would be quicker to just go through the basement. Back at the base, Mai welcomed us with some tea. After everyone had settled Naru began to speak. "What we know so far is that Kazuo-san has asked us to stop the activity going on here at the school. In classroom 3-A, the window broke during class, writing appears on the blackboard when no one is around, and the desks get moved. In the music room, the piano plays by itself, the chair in the middle of the second row breaks when Fuji Kosuke-kun sits in it, and the sheet music get blown off the stands when the windows are firmly shut and the air conditioner can't reach them. Lastly, at the tennis courts, the ball baskets get tipped over when nobody is near them, the nets go missing and are found on top of the locker room roof, and personal belongings get switched around."

"We also found out that Hitogata were involved and proved that someone in this school has latent psychic abilities and is the one responsible for the rest of the activity in school. We learned that a student had committed 'suicide' in classroom 3-A and might be the cause of the broken window. Naoki-kun and Minoru-chan are close childhood friends and Naoki-kun has feelings for her. She rejects him after he confesses to her. Afterwards, he withdraws himself from everyone and starts to get into the paranormal and appears to have learned how to make Hitogata." I continued.

"When Mai and I were checking classroom 3-A, we heard whispering and then a second window was smashed, knocking sounds could be heard, and a desk got thrown at us." Mai shuddered at this part. "Finally, we discovered the corridors and Naoki-kun remains to be unfound." Monk finished.

"Right, and the school plans now are different from the original school plans, which along with several other important documents got burned in a fire that broke out in the office." Yasu confirmed.

"I feel like if we found Naoki-kun and talked to him, we'd be able to end this case." John said thoughtfully.

"Maybe if we asked Kazuo-san for his home phone number and ask if his parents have seen him." Lin suggested.

"Lin, I'll leave that to you." Naru said thoughtfully. "It's getting late, we should call it a day. There isn't much more that we can do for today." Everyone nodded. It sounded good to me. Today was a little exhausting. I mean, it was a good day because we made a lot of progress, but it felt like a long day. I was starting to feel hungry too. Mai and John checked all the cameras before we all left.

"Do you want to get something on the way back home?" Mai asked as we waited for the bus.

"Yeah, I'm too exhausted to cook."

"It's been a long day, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I hope we can close this case soon. It's wearing me down."

"Me too. It's starting to scare me after what happened in the classroom with Monk and I. Are you sure you're okay after falling down those steps?"

"Yeah, I landed on my butt. Besides, Yasu likes to make things sound worse than they already are." Mai grinned.

"That sounds like Yasu alright." We grabbed some food from the café and made it home without incident this time. I'm glad for it. Seriously, if I were to go through another incident right now, I don't know what I would do. I think I might seriously just break down. That's how exhausted I am right now. As soon as we got through the door, we heard,

"Congratulations Aki!" I blinked as the lights were turned on. It was Michiru and Keiko. Mai had put her hand to chest, looking frightened at the sudden sound.

"Don't scare me like that!" Mai said as soon as she realized who it was. The two grinned.

"We're sorry, Mai, but we heard from your land lady that Aki is moving into her own apartment. We wanted to congratulate her." Keiko said giggling. I grinned.

"Thanks you guys!"

"So when are you moving in?" Michiru asked as Mai and I started to eat.

"I was going to move in last Sunday, but I kind of decided to help with a case and I haven't had the time to get started. I plan on moving in after this case ends." I said shrugging. She rolled her eyes.

"You're always helping out with a case."

"I know, but they always turn out to be interesting. Scary, but interesting."

"So when will this case end?" Keiko asked curiously.

"We're not sure." Mai said thoughtfully. "A lot of interesting things have happened and we've made a lot of progress. But there's still a few more things we need to do before the case comes to an end."

"Yeah," I said frowning. We definitely need to track down Naoki-kun. He's the key to ending this case, I just know it.

"I take it the case isn't going as well as you'd like." Michiru said looking concerned.

"Sort of. There's a missing key to this case and if we find it, then we can end it."

"A missing key? What kind of key?" Keiko asked curiously. Mai and I shared a look and decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell them a little information.

"Well, we're looking for a boy that goes to the school that we're investigating. He hasn't been to school since last Thursday." I informed them. "We found out how he's been able to enter the school without being seen, but we haven't found him. The only way we can end this case is if we find him."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

"I don't think so." Mai said uncertainly. "We're going to search for him again tomorrow. If he doesn't turn up and we don't have any leads, then we'll let you help us find him." The two nodded. It wasn't long before Michiru and Keiko left and soon after Mai and I went to bed. I fell asleep almost immediately.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

December

Day 3

The next day, I felt more energized and ready to find Naoki-kun. When Mai and I got to the school, we spotted Minoru-chan waiting at the school gates. She perked up when she saw us. "Mai-san, Aki-san, there's something I need to tell you!" She said excitedly.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"I just saw Kichirou!"

"Where is he?" Mai asked looking at her wide-eyed.

"I don't know for sure, but I saw him heading out towards the tennis courts."

"You didn't tell any of the others?" I asked her frowning.

"They weren't there when I went to go see them." She said frowning.

"Okay, thank you for letting us know." Mai said smiling at her. She nodded and then the two of us hurried to base. Minoru-chan was right about no one being there. Where had they all gone to?

"Let's check the cameras." Mai nodded and we looked through the camera feed. None of them were at the locations where the cameras were. There wasn't anything going on at the moment and there wasn't any audio either. "Maybe they're in the corridors?"

"I think we should call Naru first."

"Yeah, I didn't think about that." I said smiling sheepishly. Mai grinned as she pulled out her phone. After few minutes, she got off the phone.

"Naru said he and Lin got here early this morning and looked through everything. He said Kazuo-san let him have the number to Naoki-kun's home and after talking to his parents, he found out that Naoki-kun had been sick with a cold all weekend and today is his first day back. So he and Lin went back to the office to check out Naoki-kun's background. He said he called Monk, John, and Ayako and told them to meet him and Lin there. He was just about to call us when I called him." I nodded.

"Did you tell him about where Naoki-kun was seen?"

"Yeah, he said to wait for him and the others to get here. He doesn't want us to confront Naoki-kun by ourselves."

"I guess we'll just man the base until they get here then." I said sighing. I really wanted to get Naoki-kun so that we could end this case. Mai started some tea while I gathered the scattered papers on the desk and straightened them up. They had some information about the case on them and I'm surprised Naru had left them here. I looked at a few of papers and noticed that some of them had strange markings on them. I know Naru didn't do this and I know that Lin wouldn't either. The markings weren't in any kind of shapes, well, recognizable shapes. But it was still strange. Plus the ink that was used to make those markings was red. Naru never used red ink unless he was highlighting something. Did Naru see this? "Mai, do you know what these markings are?" I asked when she came in in with two cups of tea.

"No, did Naru write them?"

"No, it's not his handwriting and it's not Lin's either." She frowned.

"Well, that's weird. We need to show Naru when he gets here. Who do you think put those on the papers?"

"It might've been the boy who fell out of the window in classroom 3-A." I said shrugging. "Maybe he's trying to communicate with us."

"But you haven't seen anything yet have you?" I sighed.

"Yeah, that would be only problem with this theory, wouldn't it?" Mai grinned.

"Keep on trying, Detective Aki!" I stuck my tongue out at her. It wasn't long before Naru, Lin, and the others had shown up. I showed Naru the papers and he frowned.

"What do you think, Naru?" Lin asked as he too examined the strange markings.

"I'm not sure. But right now we need to find Naoki-san." Naru made Mai and Yasu stay behind as we went to the tennis courts. I didn't know what was going to happen when we finally talk to Naoki-kun. We opened the door quietly and went down the stairs into the 'basement'.

"Naoki-san? Are you down here?" John called out.

"W-Who are you people?" A surprised voice demanded when we got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Are you Naoki-san? I'm Shibuya Kazuya of Shibuya Psychic Research. We were asked by your principal to investigate the paranormal activity that's been happening in your school. I have some questions for you. Do you mind if we talked to you in our base?" Naoki-kun hesitated a little bit before nodding.

"Sure." Back at the base, Mai had some fresh tea made for everyone and Naru began his questioning.

"Naoki-san, did you make this Hitogata?" Naru asked placing the Hitogata in front of Naoki-kun. Naoki-kun looked nervous.

"What are you going to do if I say I did?"

"Nothing, I just simply wish to know if you made it."

"Yes, I made it. I was angry with Sachiko and Fuji. I read about them in one of the books I found and it showed how to make one. So I made one and put it under the chair Fuji sat on in the band room. I showed up for the assembly and I wanted the desk to move so badly. I didn't come back the next day because I was scared."

"Are you aware that you have latent psychic abilities?" He shook his head.

"No,"

"I see," Lin was typing quickly on his laptop. "You need to stop making the Hitogata, understand? If you don't, someone's going to get seriously hurt." Naru said sternly.

"I understand. You have my word that I won't make them anymore."

"Good, that's all the questions I had for you." Naoki-kun nodded and after he left, Naru sat back in his chair.

"Now what, Naru?" Monk asked curiously.

"We've taken care of the Hitogata problem, now all we have to do is do an exorcism on classroom 3-A. I believe that once we do that, all the activity should stop." After that, Ayako, John, and Monk prepared for their exorcisms. Ayako was going to go first, then John, and then Monk. I thought it was a little excessive, but Naru wanted to make sure that the windows weren't going to break in that classroom again. After Monk was finished, Naru went to Kazuo-san and told him everything that we learned in this case. He seemed satisfied with what we found out and we told him we'd be back in a week to make sure the activity in classroom 3-A stopped. Well, that was kind of anticlimactic. I'm glad that the case is finally over now. It may have only been three days, but that's long enough for me.

I was ready to get back to the café and get away from the spirits. Plus, I heard Suzuki-san telling Hajime-san that there was going to be a new employee starting in October. She said the employee was transferring from another café that is going to be shut down because they aren't making enough money. The café the employee is transferring from doesn't shut down for good until October. I wonder who this person is going to be. "We still have the rest of the day to get you moved, if you want to." Mai said as we entered her apartment after we were done at the school. I grinned.

"We should probably call Michiru and Keiko then." She grinned too. It was almost five in the evening by the time we had moved everything into my apartment. I don't have that much stuff, that's true, but I wanted to move the furniture around. After getting everything settled, we decided to go to the café for dinner. From there, I told Suzuki-san and Hajime-san about my apartment and they congratulated me and stuff. Now that everyone knows about my apartment, Ayako and Monk are going to want to check it out. After dinner, the girls decided they were going to stay over and break in the new apartment. It was nice to have my own apartment. I didn't have to worry about waking up Mai in the middle of the night if I have to get up to use the bathroom or if I have nightmares. Plus we don't have to share the bathroom in the morning and I might actually make it to school on time, because sometimes we were late. I doubt that though. I would end up waiting for Mai, so that we can walk there together. But whatever. I'm just glad to have a place of my own.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

March

Day 1

Right now, I'm walking to work. I've realized that every time I walk to work, I pass this creepy abandoned hospital. I've never seen any spirits enter or exit the place, which is weird. Usually, when I see places like that, spirits come and go as they please. There can't not be any spirits there, because people die at hospitals all the time as sad as that is. I wonder if I could find some information about this place. I walked into the café and heard some girls from my school talking as I passed their table. "I heard that if you go into that hospital, you can't get out." One of them said grinning.

"Ooh, so scary~!" Another said laughing.

"But seriously, my brother's friend went in there and hasn't been seen since then." A girl who I recognized as Hata Aiko said. She's a 2nd year.

"Whatever, Aiko!" The second girl said rolling her eyes. I'll file that piece of information way for later. I thought as I went behind the counter.

"Good afternoon, Aki!" Hajime greeted me, smiling.

"Hey, Hajime! How are Ryuu and Yuma?"

"They argue like a married couple, I tell you." She said shaking her head as she followed me into the back room. "Have you found any interesting haunted places?"

"Huh? Why?" I was totally confused.

She grinned. "I saw you listening to those girls over there."

"Oh," I said grinning. "Well, I pass the hospital they're talking about every time I walk to work."

"Do you see any ghosts when you pass it?" She asked eagerly.

"Oddly enough, I don't. It's weird." I said frowning.

"That is weird. I've heard at least two people have gone missing there. Three now, since I heard what that girl said."

"Do you know if the police have checked it out any?" I asked as I finally got changed into my uniform.

"Hm," She said thoughtfully. "I don't think they went there to check it out until after a news reporter went missing in there. I think her name was Morikawa Misaki."

"Oh, I heard about that on the news. I think she was the second one that was reported missing. The first one I think was Hirota Akemi? Yeah, Ryuu told me she was a second year in his kendo club."

"Oh yeah, Ryuu told me about her too. I suspect we'll hear about the last person the girl was talking about earlier on the news eventually. I don't know how long ago it's been since they've been missing though."

"Well, it looks like I've found myself another mystery to solve." I said grinning. She chuckled.

"Just be careful okay? I don't want you to go missing too. Ryuu and Yuma would be very sad if you went missing."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on doing it by myself. I have a feeling someone will go to Naru about it." I said grinning. "Oh, that reminds me. Tell Ryuu and Yuma that they're welcome to come over to my apartment on the weekends if they want to hang out or something."

"Don't you have their numbers?"

"I did have their numbers, but then I dropped my phone on the sidewalk and I lost all my contacts after that. So I had to buy a new phone and put in the numbers that I do remember. I didn't remember their numbers." She chuckled.

"Remind me before you leave and I'll give you their numbers."

"Thanks!" She nodded and we got to work. I don't think Izumi would appreciate us just standing here and talking. A few hours later, Ayako walks in with Monk and John. "Welcome to the Star Café!" I said grinning at them.

"Hm, we'd love to get something, but we're kind of here on business, if you know what I mean." Monk said winking at me. I pouted.

"Another case? Aw, I was having so much fun too."

"What? You mean to tell me you don't enjoy solving the cases we come across?" Monk asked in disbelief.

"Of course I enjoy solving them. It's the depressing stuff that gets to me." I said shrugging.

"Oh,"

"I'll be right back." I told them before going to find Izumi and Hajime.

"You have a case, don't you?" Izumi said when I finally found her.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

She smiled. "It's no problem. I'm glad you've found something that interests you."

I smiled back her. "Thanks, Izumi! I'll make it up to you I promise!"

She chuckled. "Oh, I know you will." I grinned and went back to Ayako, Monk, and John.

"Alright, I have my stuff, let's get out of here." Ayako rolled her eyes as the group left the café. "Do we know what the case is about yet?"

"Nope, Naru just said to get to the office as soon as possible and to pick you up." Monk said shrugging.

"Do you know anything Ayako?" I asked her curiously.

"No. I was just on my way to the mall when Naru called." Ayako said looking a bit irritated. "There was a huge sale I wanted to check out." I pouted.

John chuckled. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." I hope it's the hospital. I thought unable to keep still.

"Are you going to come in your uniform?" Ayako asked grinning. She was obviously in a better mood now.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "I'll get my normal clothes later." We finally made it to the SPR office. Naru and Lin were sitting on one of the sofas, talking when we walked in. A tea tray sat on the coffee table in front of them and it was still steaming. So Mai must have just made it! I haven't had any of Mai's tea for a while now. Masako and Mai were arguing on another sofa. "Hey guys!" I greeted the two as I took a seat and helped myself to a cup of tea.

"It's been awhile." Lin said smiling at me. I shrugged.

"I've been really busy lately." I hadn't come to visit Lin or Naru for almost three weeks now. Literally I've been busy with work and catching up on the school work I missed after the first two cases. I just got caught up too. I hope this case doesn't drag on forever. I thought frowning.

"What's wrong?" Naru asked me. I shook my head.

"No, it's nothing. Anyways, so what's the case about this time?" I secretly hoped it was the hospital.

He chuckled. "A contractor by the name of Yamamura Tatsumi came by a few hours ago. He was assigned to take down what used to be the old General Hospital of Tokyo a few weeks ago. When he and his men got there to assess the damage, one of his men, Noboru Isamu, was pushed in the hospital's recreational room. Only no one was around when it happened, not even the person who pushed Noboru-san."

"Yay, I knew someone would bring this as a case to you!" I said excitedly.

"So that's why you were so impatient." Monk said shaking his head.

"What do you know about it?" Lin asked me.

I grinned. "Well, I know that spirits don't enter or leave the place and I've heard that at least three people have gone missing after entering the building. Plus, I overheard a classmate of mine telling her friends that her brother's friend went missing in there."

"Who?" Mai asked wide-eyed.

"Hata Aiko-san."

"I see," Naru said nodding. "Yamamura-san told me a real-estate employee who goes by the name of Masaru Kaori had scouted out the place before calling him. She heard children laughing and playing in the nursery and she was pushed down the stairs that lead to the operating rooms. She didn't tell him any of this until he called her to tell her about what happened to Noboru-san."

"Who are the missing people?" Ayako asked curiously.

"They are Hirota Akemi, Kinoshita Arai, and Morikawa Misaki. Two of them are in high school and the last one is a reporter." Lin answered as he typed away at his laptop. What is he typing all the time anyways? Seriously, he must already have this stuff on his computer, right? "Also, there appears to be five witnesses who were there when these people went missing. Takeda Yuuta is the cameraman who was with Morikawa Misaki, Hattori Moriko and Fukuda Natsuki are the ones who were with Hirota Akemi when she went missing, and Hata Kaito and Sakaguchi Kenta are the two who were with Kinoshita Arai when he went missing."

Mai gasped. "Kinoshita-san? I was wondering what happened to him."

"Kinoshita? Oh, yeah, the 2nd year who didn't show up for the volleyball tournament."

"You were there for that?" Mai asked shocked.

"Well, yeah, I do like to go to school games every once in a while." I said shrugging. I do support our school you know. "Anyways, that must be who Hata-san was talking about."

"Aki, are you sure you haven't seen any spirits around the hospital?" Masako asked me frowning.

"Yeah, I walk by the place every day when I go to work. I'm thinking they're probably trapped inside the hospital if there are spirits there." I said shrugging.

"If?" John asked frowning.

"Well, it could be ground subsidence or something logical like that, no?" He nodded.

"That's true." Monk said sitting his cup down on the coffee table.

"What about the missing people?" Ayako asked frowning.

"Maybe there's a serial killer on the loose who kidnaps their victims from the old hospital if they happened to wander in." I said shrugging again. "You never know."

Mai shuddered. "Let's not talk about stuff like that. That scares me more than anything."

"Sorry," I said smiling sheepishly at her.

"What do you think, Naru?" Masako asked, looking at Naru.

"I think anything is possible at this point. Yamamura-san is working on contacting those who witnessed those three people going missing." Naru said looking thoughtful.

"I can help you out with four of those witnesses. Mai and I can talk to Hata-san tomorrow at school and I know Natsuki. She has homeroom with us." I said grinning.

"Alright, I'll call Yamamura-san and let him know that he only has to try and contact Takeda Yuuta-san." Mai nodded. "In the meantime, let's go over the rest of the case."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I got myself another cup of tea while Naru went over the rest of the case. "The police have searched the hospital from top to bottom and hasn't found any of the missing people." He said, frowning.

"How is that even possible?" John asked looking confused.

"Maybe there are secret rooms or something." I suggested, shrugging.

"Also, there have been reports of screams from the operation rooms, voices can be heard in the nursery, and someone said they heard knocks and footsteps in the kitchen. Another person claimed they saw an apparition of a doctor in the morgue. I believe Yamamura-san said that one of his workers saw blood on the walls in one of the examination rooms and when he came back with a person, the blood just disappeared." Naru said sighing and putting the paper down. "We've got a lot of ground to cover and not enough equipment."

"What are we going to do then?" Masako asked curiously.

"I don't want to do this, but we're going to have to split up into two groups. I have two small camcorders that wouldn't be any use to us if we left them recording only one room. The lenses are too small and wouldn't capture much. We'll have to use those in the areas where we can't set up a camera or microphone." Naru said frowning.

"I don't like that idea either," Monk said folding his arms and frowning too. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, guys. I think we'll be fine. A whole group of us can't get lost at the same time." I said confidently. Unless a supernatural force separates us from the group. I didn't say that out loud, but I'm sure Naru was thinking that too.

"Says you," Mai said frowning. "I was excited for this case, but now I'm not so sure about it."

"It's going to be risky, but I know we can handle it." Naru said finally after a few minutes of silence. "Since it's pretty urgent, let's head on over to the hospital." Everyone nodded. I got in the car with Ayako and Mai. Masako decided to ride with Monk and John. Good, I didn't want to listen to her and Ayako or Mai arguing on the way over.

"Why are you so excited about this case?" Mai asked once we were out on the road. I shrugged.

"I just like a good mystery I guess. Besides, I want to help those who witnessed their friends getting lost in the hospital. Also I'm curious about why I'm not seeing any spirits enter or exit the hospital. It's so strange not to see any. I've seen quite a few hang around the other hospitals in town."

"So that's why you thought they were being trapped." Ayako said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," I said grinning.

"It does seem really mysterious." Mai said grinning.

"See? You can't tell me you're not eager about it." I said grinning too. She shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's still sad to know that there are so many spirits jus wandering the earth, probably trapped or lost." She said looking down at her lap, sadly. I nodded.

"That's why when I was little, I always tried to help the ones I saw. Of course, I don't do that much anymore. I figure if they really need help, then they would go looking for help. I know that some of them can't because they're stuck in a constant loop or something." I sighed and looked out the window. If I helped every single ghost that I saw, I wouldn't see the end of it. There are just so many of them, it's not even funny. Just now for example, I just saw a spirit of a little girl crossing the road and getting hit by a car. Only just for her to reappear at the side of the road she started to cross to do it again. That's an awful way to die. I thought frowning. I'm sure there are worse ways to die, but I bet the family of that little girl are still heart-broken over her death.

"Aki, are you alive in there?" Mai asked waving her hand in front of my face. I jumped and scowled at her as she laughed. I sighed. She smiled. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to tell you that we're here."

"Oh,"

"Are you alright?" Ayako asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a little tired. I had to pull a few all-nighters to catch up on all my missed work." That was partly true. But I didn't want to tell her about the little girl getting hit by a car. She's probably going to go to Lin about this. I mentally groaned. Since when has Lin become my mother anyways? I almost laughed at this, but I managed to keep myself from laughing.

"Aki, you should've told me. I would've helped you," Mai said glaring at me. I grinned at her.

"Sorry, Mai. But I think I can handle it." Besides, I've pulled all-nighters before; even if they weren't by choice. Mai sighed.

"What's going on?" Monk asked as we joined him and the others.

"Oh the usual. Mai getting onto me for doing things I'm used to doing alone." I said grinning. Mai stuck her tongue out at me and I returned the favor.

"Today, we're just going to set up the equipment and get the cameras and microphones put up." Naru said cutting the conversation short.

"Rude," I said playfully scowling at him. He sighed and shook his head, before ordering Mai to help with the screens. "Still rude." Monk snickered and helped Mai. I sighed. I guess I'll get the microphones. I didn't feel like doing any heavy lifting today. At work, I had to lift some heavy boxes to get to the flour. I have no muscle whatsoever. You would think I would though since I've had to lift those boxes plenty of times before, but for whatever reason, it's not working. Yeah, so anyways. We got the monitors all set up and working. I instantly saw several spirits walking around the hospital. They all looked frightened and in agony. I hope that after we're done with this case, we'll be able to help them escape from this dark place.

"The aura around this hospital is shockingly dark." Masako said frowning.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," I said looking around a bit.

"Do you see them?" John asked curiously.

"Yeah, they're scared and look like they're in agony." I felt bad for them. They probably didn't ask for whatever is going on here.

"And there's so many too," Masako said looking a little pale. "It's almost overwhelming."

"Do you need to sit this one out?" Naru asked her. She shook her head.

"No, I'll be okay. I just need to get used to it." She said almost too quickly. This isn't something you can just get used to. I thought shaking my head.

"Anyways, who's all going to set up the cameras and microphones?" I asked curiously.

"I've decided on Lin, Mai, Monk, and you, Aki." Naru answered. Wow, ever since Mai started working for Naru, she told me that Lin always helped set up the monitors and never went to set up the cameras and microphones. Naru is very serious about us being safe, if he's sending Lin to help with the cameras and microphones. "Be careful," We nodded and the four of us headed out. Lin had a map of the place and there were X's marked on certain rooms. He led us to each room and waited patiently as we set up the cameras and the microphones.

"Abandoned hospitals are creepy," Monk said looking around as we went. I chuckled.

"And I'm the one who can see and talk to spirits." I said grinning.

"Oh shush," He said playfully scowling at me. As I was setting up a microphone for this room, I heard someone screaming.

"Lin, are we near the operation rooms?" He looked at his map and nodded.

"Did you hear screaming?" Mai asked looking out the door nervously.

"Yeah, did you guys?"

"I didn't," Lin said as he looked around.

"Me either," Monk said shrugging.

"I'm sorry, Aki, but I didn't either." Mai said smiling sheepishly. I shrugged.

"It's alright." I said wondering why that was.

"Maybe it has to do with you being able to communicate with spirits." Lin said thoughtfully.

"Maybe," I said in agreement. We finished with that room and we still had the operation rooms to do. Those were the last ones. "I don't think I'm ready to go into the operation rooms just yet." I was beginning to feel nauseated as we got closer to the rooms.

"I'll stay out in the hallway with you," Lin said as we stopped outside of the doors.

"Okay, Mai and I will set up the cameras and microphones quickly and we can get back to base." Monk said looking to Mai, who nodded nervously. After the two went into the rooms, Lin turned towards me.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I just feel nauseated when I get close to these rooms. I feel like I'll see more spirits in there and I know they'll be in pretty bad shape. Also, I feel like whatever is keeping these spirits trapped is in there. I know I shouldn't be able to feel these kinds of things, since I'm only able to talk and see spirits, but…"

"I'm beginning to think your abilities are evolving since you've been exposed to more paranormal happenings." Lin said thoughtfully. "I've been doing some research on others who have the exact same abilities as you and some of the people I've looked into have claimed that they're psychic mediums now. Which I think would make more sense than just being able to see the spirits and communicate with them." I nodded, thoughtfully. It did make a lot of sense.

"Do you think I should ask Masako to teach me some things about psychic mediums?" He smiled.

"If that's truly what you want to do. I thought you wanted to limit yourself on these kinds of things." I shrugged.

"Since I've been on a few cases with you and Naru, I guess you could say my curiosity is getting the better of me. Of course, I love working at the Star Café and working with Hajime-san and Suzuki-san. I would love to work there as long as I can, but if an opportunity to work on my ability shows itself, I'll take it. Even if it meant that I would have to give up working at the Star Café." Suddenly, Lin mussed up my hair... rude. "Huh?"

"I admire your determination to better your abilities. But don't forget to step back every once in a while to enjoy life." I smiled.

"Don't worry, Lin. I won't forget. Besides, you know I don't like a lot of depressing stuff." He chuckled. Finally, Monk and Mai finished setting up the cameras and microphones. Mai came out looking a little pale. "What's wrong, Mai?" She shook her head.

"I just really don't like going into those rooms."

"Me either," Monk said frowning.

"Well, now that we all agree that we don't like being anywhere near the operation rooms, let's go back to base." I said as I saw a spirit run out of the second room, screaming in agony. I had to put my hands over my ears because it was so loud. "That explains the screams." I muttered as the screaming seemed to get louder.

"Aki, what are you seeing?" Lin asked looking concerned.

"I just saw a spirit run out of the second operation room, screaming really loudly. I think he's stuck in a loop." I said once the screaming went away.

"Then let's get out of here before it happens again." Monk said after looking at the door to the second operation room. Lin, Mai, and I agreed and we headed back to the base. When Monk, Lin, Mai, and I got back to base, we found Naru, John, Ayako, and Masako waiting on us. "What took you so long?" Ayako asked frowning.

"And why do you look so pale, Aki?" Masako asked in concern.

"I found the source to the screams in the operation rooms." I said sitting on one of the chairs that we had brought. I needed to sit down after that.

"Is your nausea gone?" Lin asked me.

"Yeah, it went away as soon as we left that area."

"What's making the screams?" John asked curiously.

"There's a spirit of a man down there. I think he's stuck in a loop, but he came out of the second operation room and now that I think about it, he was missing his left arm." I said shuddering a bit. "It was awful, he was screaming so loud, I had to cover my ears. And he was covered in so much blood," I shook my head to get rid of the image that popped into my head. "Anyways, I think we all agree that we don't like going near the operation rooms."

"Let's call it a night. Tomorrow, Aki and Mai, you two should go talk to your classmates about the missing people." Naru said after a brief silence. "I'll contact Yamamura-san tomorrow and see if he's had any luck with Takeda Yuuta-san."

"Is he the one who witnessed that news reporter going missing?" Monk asked curiously.

"Yes, I would like to talk to Takeda Yuuta-san and the other four witnesses myself."

"Okay," I said smiling. "Mai and I will try to convince them to come talk to you tomorrow." I'll have to talk to Suzuki-san tomorrow. "Do you need me tomorrow after school?"

"No, you can go ahead and go to work. Tomorrow, I only plan on having interviews with those five witnesses. We'll meet back up here at noon the next day since you and Mai get out of school early that day." Naru said thoughtfully.

"How do you know we get out early?" I asked confused.

"I told him about the basketball game that's going on in the afternoon that day and that the school is letting us get out early because of that." Mai said smiling.

"Oh, that makes sense." I said shrugging. Mai and I just decided to walk home after this since we're closer. "I need to make a stop by the Star Café to get my stuff." I told Mai as Naru locked up the hospital. She nodded.

"We'll see you guys later!" Monk said before he, John, and Masako got back in his car. We waved as everyone drove off.

"Man today has been very eventful," I said as Mai and I walked to the café.

"Maybe a little too eventful." She said shuddering. I chuckled.

"Yeah, but we're only just getting started." She sighed.

"I know." We finally made it back to the café.

"You finally made it back." Hajime-san greeted as we walked in. They were starting to shut everything down. "Are you guys investigating the hospital?"

"Yeah and it's turned out to be very interesting." I said grinning. "I just came back for my stuff and for Ryuu and Yuma's numbers."

"Oh yeah, here, I'll write their numbers on this napkin for you." She said grabbing a napkin and her pen.

"Thanks, don't forget to tell them that they can come over on the weekends." She nodded.

"Don't worry I won't." She said smiling and handing me the napkin.

"Is Suzuki-san still here?"

"Yeah, she's in her office."

"Thanks. Mai, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Mai said smiling. I knocked on Suzuki-san's door when I found her. She jumped a little and scowled at me.

"Don't scare me like that." I grinned.

"Sorry, but I didn't do it on purpose. I just came to tell you that I will be working tomorrow." She nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then." I nodded. After changing and grabbing my things, Mai and I went home. I was so ready for some dinner.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

March

Day 2

The next day, I woke feeling pretty tired. After seeing that spirit by the operation rooms, I sort of had a nightmare about it. It freaked me out, so I didn't get much sleep. But that wasn't going to stop me from being excited about this case. I couldn't wait to get to school to talk to Moriko, Natsuki, Hata-senpai, and Sakaguchi-senpai. I wanted to get as much information out of them as I can. Hopefully they will agree to go see Naru today after school. I had my breakfast and got my things ready for work so I didn't have to get them together in a quick fashion when I got home later. I'm pretty sure I'd forget something important. I grabbed my school bag and after locking my front door, Mai is coming down the stairs. "Good morning, Aki!" She greeted me.

"Good morning, Mai! Are you ready for today's mission?" She giggled.

"I'm psyched up for it actually. You look like you didn't get much sleep last night." I ended up telling her about the nightmare. "That's terrible. You should've called me."

"Then neither of us would've gotten any sleep and it won't be good if we're both half asleep trying to talk to Moriko, Natsuki, Hata-senpai, and Sakaguchi-senpai." I said rolling my eyes. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah, but I would still like you to call me and tell me stuff like this. We're friends, remember?" I sighed.

"I haven't forgotten that we're friends. It's just I haven't had much of an experience with friends before, but I'm better now than I was before. You've got to admit that." I said the last part smiling. She smiled back.

"Yeah," We walked the rest of the way to school in silence. We were both okay with that, since it was still pretty early. We stopped by the Star Café to get some coffee on the way. That'll wake me up in no time. I thought grinning. Honestly I could've slept more since I've been pulling some all-nighters recently, but I had an important mission today. It was crucial that I get every bit of information that I can from these witnesses. I would like to find out what is keeping those spirits from leaving that hospital and more importantly keeping them from passing over, but in order for me to do that I have to go into those operation rooms. I really don't want to, but it has to be done, otherwise I'll go crazy if I don't find out. Now that I'm more awake, I'm ready to talk to Moriko and Natsuki. I figure it'd be much easier to talk to them first since we're all in the same homeroom. "Are we going to talk to Moriko-san and Natsuki-san first?" Mai asked as we walked into the school.

"That's the plan. I figured it'd be easier to talk to them first. Then we can talk to Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai at lunch maybe. I'm sure we could ask Aiko what class her brother is in and I bet Sakaguchi-senpai is in the same class as him." Mai nodded.

"Mai, Aki, good morning!" We looked up and saw Keiko and Michiru. I grinned.

"Good morning, Keiko and Michiru!"

"You look like you're in a good mood this morning." Keiko said grinning.

"Am I ever in a bad mood in the morning?"

Michiru giggled and said, "Well you're not much of morning person, are you?" I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Hey, just because I'm not a morning person, it doesn't mean I'm always in a bad mood in the morning."

"Still, we can tell you're excited about something, so tell us already!" Keiko said grinning.

"Well, we're investigating that abandoned hospital where those people have gone missing." Mai said smiling. Michiru gasped.

"Didn't Akemi-chan go missing in there?" She asked wide-eyed. I nodded.

"We're going to talk to Moriko and Natsuki when we get to homeroom." I said adjusting my bag. For some reason it seemed heavier than usual. I checked it just in case, but there wasn't anything in there that wasn't supposed to be in there. Huh, that's so weird. Maybe it's because I'm just really tired today. "Wait, how do you know her? She goes to a different school."

"Well, Mori-chan and Natsu-chan have been keeping to themselves since it happened." Keiko said looking worried. 'Mori-chan'? 'Natsu-chan'? "I grew up with Mori-chan and Natsu-chan. We're not exactly friends anymore, but we used to be really close. When they met Akemi-chan, well they sort of just pushed me aside. I don't mind though because I have Mai, Michiru, and you, Aki." Keiko explained when I looked at her confused. I nodded.

"So would you say they're usually really talkative, but since Akemi went missing, they've closed themselves off from everyone?"

"Right," Keiko said nodding. I nodded. I just wanted to figure out what kind of people these two girls are.

"How do those two know Hirota-san?" I was so curious.

"I think they met her at the mall. Mori-chan said that the three of them got along really well. They were planning on going to see Akemi-chan's kendo match next weekend." Keiko said frowning. I nodded.

"Okay, thanks."

"How do you know she went to a different school?" Michiru asked curiously.

"One of my co-worker's twin brother and sister go to her school." I said shrugging. I should get a hold of Ryuu and ask him about Hirota-san. "My co-worker told me about it yesterday morning."

"Oh, that explains that." Michiru said grinning. I stuck my tongue out at her. Once inside the classroom, Mai and I headed over to Moriko and Natsuki's desks.

"Good morning," Mai greeted them. The two stopped talking and looked up at us confused.

"Good morning," Natsuki greeted back.

"We have a few questions for you concerning Hirota-san." I said smiling apologetically at them. I really felt bad for them having to go through this again. The two frowned.

"Do we have to talk about it in here?" Moriko asked looking around at the other students in the class. I shook my head.

"No, we can go talk on the roof it will make you feel better." I said smiling at her. She and Natsuki shared a look before nodding. All four of us headed to the roof and once we were sure we were alone, Mai and I started asking questions.

"Will you please tell us what happened that night?" Mai started. Natsuki nodded.

"We were having a sleep over at my house. We decided to play truth or dare and I dared Akemi-chan to stay for an hour in that abandoned hospital by herself." She sniffled. "I didn't know she was going to disappear."

"It's okay, it's not anyone's fault." I said sympathetically.

"We stayed at the doors for the whole hour, just waiting for her to come out. Akemi-chan wasn't happy about the dare, but we heard her saying that it would be a piece of cake and other things like that." Moriko said sniffling too. "When she didn't come out, we got worried and went inside to look for her. But we never found her. We were too scared to go any deeper into the hospital than the entrance. So we went straight to the police, hoping they'd find her."

"Did you hear any unusual sounds or voices in there?" Mai asked curiously. The two looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I thought I heard some footsteps following us around until we left." Natsuki said shuddering. "Mori-chan didn't hear them though, because I asked her if she did and she said she didn't."

"I heard a scream from the back of the hospital, but it wasn't Akemi-chan. It freaked me out and that's when we ran out of there." Moriko said frowning. That must have been the spirit in the operation rooms. I shuddered, thinking about the nightmare. "The next day, we called Akemi-chan's cell phone and she didn't answer and we also called her house. Her parents said they hadn't seen or heard from her."

"Why are you asking us about Akemi-chan?" Natsuki asked, frowning too.

"We're with Shibuya Psychic Research and we were asked to look into this." Mai said smiling.

"Oh," Natsuki said rubbing her arms nervously.

"Also, if it's okay with you two, our boss would like to talk to you two about this after school. Do you mind coming with me?" Mai asked them. She looked like she was inwardly cringing as she said that. I don't blame her. I would cringe too. The girls shared a look before nodding.

"Yeah, you want us to come with you today?" Moriko asked curiously.

"Yes, please."

"Okay, we'll meet you by the school entrance then." Then the four of us headed to class before we were late. I have a bad feeling that we won't find any of the people who went missing in the hospital. I wonder if there are any kidnappings connected to the hospital. Maybe whatever is keeping those spirits trapped is a spirit who died there keeping someone hostage or something and that spirit still thinks it's alive. Or maybe it's also stuck in an endless loop? That would be difficult. We'd need Masako to try and convince it to move on. It might make her nauseas if she gets too close to it, though. I feel like if any of us go in there, we're just going to open a can of worms that is better to be left alone. But it's our job to get to the bottom of this. Lunch time came quicker than I thought it would, so we went to Aiko and asked her which class her brother was in.

"Why?" She asked confused. After explaining to her what we were doing, she nodded and said, "He's in class 2-C."

"Thank you, Aiko-san." Mai said smiling. She nodded once again and we left her to her lunch. We went to class 2-C and found Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai sitting at a desk and eating lunch.

"Hata-senpai, may we talk to you and Sakaguchi-senpai?" I called out, since Mai was too embarrassed to do so. They looked at us weirdly before getting up and meeting us outside their classroom.

"What can we do for you?" Hata-senpai asked us.

"We work with Shibuya Psychic Research and we're investigating that abandoned hospital. Do you mind telling us what happened the night Kinoshita-senpai went missing?" I asked hoping they would.

"Sure, but can we talk about it somewhere else?" Sakaguchi-san answered, smiling sheepishly.

"Of course," Mai said smiling. I guess it makes sense that they're not comfortable with talking about this out in the open. We ended up going back to the roof.

"Sorry, we're not really comfortable with talking about some of the things we heard while we were at the abandoned hospital." Hata-senpai said shrugging.

"Understandable. Now please tell us what happened." I said getting a little impatient. For some reason I didn't have a good feeling about them. Yes, one of them is a brother to our classmate, but that didn't mean anything.

"Well, we dared him to stay the night and left as soon as he shut the door. When he didn't come to school the next day, we called the police." Sakaguchi-senpai said shrugging.

"And did you hear anything out of the ordinary before you left?" I asked, feeling like we were just wasting our time.

"No. Now, then," Hata-senpai said before he and Sakaguchi-senpai tried to pin us against the wall. I say tried because I elbowed Hata-senpai in the stomach and quickly kicked Sakaguchi-senpai where the sun doesn't shine. I wrote down the address to SPR and threw it at them.

"Be at the address after school and seriously, don't try that again." I said glaring at them. They just groaned and rolled over. I rolled my eyes and grabbed Mai's hand and dragged her back to our classroom. "Are you okay Mai?"

"Y-yeah, that was scary. How'd you do that?" She answered, looking a little shaken up.

"Do what?"

"You elbowing and kicking them." I grinned.

"Well, before my brother went all psycho on me, he taught me a few self defense moves. They turned out to be pretty useful."

"Do you think we should tell Naru what Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai tried to do us?" Mai asked thoughtfully. I shrugged.

"You can, but I doubt those two will be alive by the end of Naru's questioning." She giggled.

"I don't think that will be a problem." I laughed.

"I'm a bad influence on you, I swear." I said shaking my head. She just shrugged.

"I'm okay with that." This is why she's one of my best friends, seriously.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Mai ended up calling Naru during lunch and telling him what happened with Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai. Oh I bet he and Lin are pissed. It's too bad I'm working today. I wanted to be there for when those two show up at the office. Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai hadn't bothered either of us since lunch. I told Mai to text me if they show up at the office and to give me details. Moriko and Natsuki followed Mai to the office like they said they would. I walked with them until I had to separate from them. Aw, I wish I could just skip work today, but I told Suzuki-san that I was working today. When I walked into the café, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ryuu and Yuma sitting at one of the tables. They were eating one of our special flatbread sandwiches. "Hey guys!" I greeted them, smiling.

"Aki!" Yuma said before getting up to hug me. I hugged her back, laughing. I love these two. "It's been awhile since we last saw you." Yuma pouted as she sat back down.

"I'm sorry, I've been really busy. But you two are free to come over to my apartment on the weekends. Well, maybe not this weekend, but next weekend will be good."

"Okay, but you better not cancel on us." Ryuu said playfully scowling at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Why would I cancel on you two?"

"Because Hajime-nee told us you like to solve mysteries and stuff." Yuma said before taking a bite of her sandwich. I shrugged.

"She's not wrong, but I'd never blow you guys off because of that. Now if it was related to my 'other job' then yeah, I have no choice." Oh that reminds me... "Ryuu, can I ask you about Hirota-san? Obviously I can't right now, but later maybe...?" He nodded, frowning.

"Yeah, I don't mind. Is this for your 'other job'?"

"Yeah, we're looking into the abandoned hospital." He sighed.

"Just don't go missing, please..." I smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry, I won't go missing. I've got a group of people who are spiritually strong and will protect me." He smiled back at me. Then I had to hurry and go change so I can start my shift. Suzuki-san would've probably been upset with me if I was late. The shift went great. Every once in a while I'd hear conversations about the hospital and if I learned any new information, which wasn't much, I would file away in the filing cabinet in my mind, hoping I'd remember it later. We had s big dinner rush before it was time for me to clock off and it was exhausting, but we managed to get the customers in and out of the café quickly, so we could close up. Hajime and Suzuki-san told me to go ahead and leave. "Are you sure? I don't mind staying and helping out with closing up the café."

"Yeah, we're sure. Besides, you won't be working tomorrow right?" Suzuki-san asked. "You're helping out with figuring out where those people disappeared to, right?" I nodded. She smiled. "Then you need all the sleep you can get." I smiled at her.

"Thanks, Suzuki-san. Good night, guys."

"Good night, Aki." Suzuki-san and Hajime said before I grabbed my things and left. I was a little surprised to see Ryuu and Yuma waiting for me outside the café. They had left hours ago.

"I thought you two went home." I said yawning a bit.

"You said you wanted to ask me about Hirota-senpai." Ryuu said rolling his eyes. I smiled.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm sorry. It's been a long day." I yawned again.

"It's fine, do you want to wait until tomorrow?" He asked as we started walking.

"No, I'm fine. I just need to get myself together for a second." I said closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. I let it out slowly and opened my eyes. "Okay, I'm ready."

"What do you want to know?"

"What kind of person is she?" He looked thoughtful for a few minutes before answering.

"She has a strong personality. She's got good grades and when she's not practicing Kendo, she's in the school library, studying." I nodded. She sounds like someone who would make a great leader and is very down to earth.

"Does she seem like the kind of person who would go into that hospital on a dare?"

"Oh yeah, she likes challenges. She's the most competitive person I've ever met. Also she's a skeptic when it comes to ghosts and stuff." So she couldn't have been bullied into it. I don't think Moriko and Natsuki would ever do that. I just want to keep my options open. Plus, I think since she was a skeptic about the paranormal, she would've wanted to prove that it doesn't exist. "Was there anything else?"

"No, I think that's everything," I said yawning again. "Do you want me to walk you guys home?"

"No, we're fine. You need to get home and go to bed." Yuma said scowling at me. I chuckled.

"You're right about that." I said smiling at her. I hugged the two before going home. I may have to get coffee at the café again in the morning.

March

Day 3

I was excited about going back to the hospital now that I've gotten over the screaming spirit from the operation rooms. I wonder if that spirit when they were alive had woken up in the middle of his operation and freaked out. He must have been in a lot of pain. I wonder why he needed an operation in the first place. "Aki, it's lunch time." Mai said shaking me. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts." I said smiling at her. "I was wondering what the story is behind the screaming spirit by the operation rooms." She frowned.

"Didn't you just have nightmares about it?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, but I'm over them now."

"Do you want to go do some research of our own at the public library before we go meet Naru and the others?" Mai asked curiously. I grinned.

"Definitely, but first, we're eating lunch here. I don't want to spend money on food if I don't have to." She grinned too.

"Same here." We had lunch with Michiru and Keiko. They asked us about our investigation so far and since it didn't look like it was going to be life threatening to anyone, we decided it was okay to tell them.

"So you haven't explored the hospital yet?" Keiko asked eagerly.

"Nope, but I think that's what we're doing today." Mai said smiling at her.

"Are there a lot of spirits in the hospital?" Michiru asked excitedly.

"There's an overwhelming amount of them." I said frowning. "I just don't understand what's keeping them there."

"I'm afraid to find out to be honest," Mai said shuddering.

"Well I don't blame you."

"We should get going," Mai said standing up.

"Where are you two going?" Michiru asked pouting. I grinned.

"We're going to do some research for the case."

"Have fun!" Keiko said as she and Michiru waved. We waved back before taking off to the library. As soon as we got to the library, we went straight to the computers and found some really old newspaper clips about the hospital. Obviously there were a lot of patient deaths, but most of them weren't violent, like stab wounds, blunt force trauma, or suicide. They were either natural deaths or deaths caused by strokes or heart attacks. The only really violent death was one of the doctors, whose name was Kabuki Rei. He was the top surgeon there and he wasn't exactly the nicest person. Even his patients weren't very happy with him. He generally had a bad attitude and treated women like animals. That's why he never had a female patient. Apparently he was fired for killing a patient by giving the patient too much anesthesia. The patient had a weak heart and was receiving a heart transplant, but with the amount of anesthesia that patient had in him, he didn't even make it to the part where they were going to put the new heart in him. A few years later, Kabuki was put in the hospital after having a stroke, but miraculously for him, he wasn't paralyzed from the waist down. After one of the family members of the patient with the weak heart found out about Kabuki being there, that person had showed up and disguised themselves as a nurse and got Kabuki in a wheelchair and took him to one of the operation rooms. Kabuki was confused obviously and the person had grabbed some of the sharp instruments in there and hacked away at Kabuki. Kabuki took a lot of damage before someone heard his screams and stopped the person from harming him any further. But it was too late for Kabuki to be saved.

So that was the spirit from the operation rooms. I shuddered. "Are you okay, Aki?" Mai asked me, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I just found out who that spirit by the operation rooms is." After reading the information I read, she shuddered too.

"That's horrible."

"I know," I checked the time and we were actually running late. "Crap, we're going to be late and Naru isn't going to be happy about it." I said wide-eyed. Mai was wide-eyed too.

"Oh no, let's hurry!" I nodded. We printed off everything we found on the hospital and took off to the hospital. Naru was scowled at us as soon as we got the through the doors. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You can't be mad at us for being late because we were doing some research on the hospital." I said pouting.

"Are you seriously pouting right now?" Monk asked raising an eyebrow at me.

"So what if I am?" I said still pouting. He chuckled and shook his head. Naru sighed.

"Fine, what did you find out?" He had to give in at some point. I thought grinning.

"Well, the only violent death we've found so far was this doctor named Kabuki Rei. He was the head surgeon at one point in time, but due to killing one of his patients during surgery, he got fired. Plus, he wasn't very well liked. A few years later, he's admitted to the hospital due to a stroke. He didn't get paralyzed by it, though. Anyways, a family member of the patient who died found out about his stroke and disguised themselves as a nurse. They took him into one of the operation rooms, nearly hacked him to death, and got stopped by other doctors. Those doctors couldn't save Kabuki-san, so therefore Kabuki-san died." I said shrugging. "I believe Kabuki-san is the spirit that I saw running out of operation room 2 the other day." Naru looked thoughtful as he looked at the papers Mai and I printed off at the library.

"How did that patient die?" Monk asked curiously.

"He over dosed on the anesthesia Kabuki-san gave him." Mai said sadly. Naru sighed.

"Good work you two." Mai and I grinned at each other as he turned around and handed Lin the papers.

"Thanks, boss!" I said grinning before sitting down in one of the chairs. "So how did the interviews go yesterday?" I was curious about Lin and Naru's reactions to what Hata-senpai and Sakaguchi-senpai had done to us yesterday.

"Well, the interviews with Moriko-san and Natsuki-san went great, but," Monk said smiling sheepishly and scratching his head. "When it got to Hata-san and Sakaguchi-san, well, Naru and Lin sort of..." He was now looking at Naru and Lin, who looked like they were pretending to be indifferent to what Monk was saying. I grinned.

"Hounded them," Ayako finished, smirking. "I kind of overheard what Naru had told Lin yesterday and so I agree with everything they said and did. Hata-san and Sakaguchi-san shouldn't be much of a problem for you two anymore." Mai giggled.

"I had a feeling that might have happened." She said smiling warmly at Lin and Naru.

"Aw, I wanted to be there to see it all, but I had to work." I said sighing.

"Don't worry. I got it all on camera." Ayako said winking and pulling out her phone.

"I love you, Ayako." I said grinning. She smirked again.

"I know!"

"Of course, we'll watch it later," I said when Naru started glaring at us. She nodded and put her phone away. Naru didn't even have to say it. We all got to work with the case. I have a feeling he likes say8ing 'let's get to work' or something. I thought grinning.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

So the first thing on the agenda today was to check the out the videos from the last two nights. So far we've heard Kabuki-san screaming, a few kids running around in there trying to scare their friends, two police officers coming in and making the kids leave, a window breaking for no apparent reason, and we heard parts of the roof fall in somewhere. Of course, this didn't happen all at once, but apparently Lin had gone through the footage this morning. Well, I guess that shaved off a few hours of work. We got into our groups: Masako, John, and I formed one team and Mai, Monk, Ayako, and Naru made up the other one. Lin gave us copies of the map he had made of this building and Naru had Ayako make protection charms for everyone. Also, Mai and I had to show that we could use the warding spell Ayako had taught us without messing up before Naru let us leave. We grabbed our handheld video cameras and flash lights before going our separate ways. Naru warned us all to be careful before he and the other three took off in one direction. "I hope nothing too horrible happens." John said worriedly as we took off in the opposite direction.

"I'm sure we'll be okay as long as we don't do anything stupid." I said shrugging. Masako chuckled. "What?"

"It's funny hearing you say that, Aki." She said covering her smiling mouth. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Hey, I may do some stupid things, but I would never do something to provoke a spirit, at least not on purpose." There had been incidents where it happened accidently. "I vote we save the operating rooms for last." I said after a short moment of silence.

"I agree." Masako said nodding. John chuckled.

"I don't blame you. I feel like there's something pretty horrible going on in those rooms." He said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I think that whatever is keeping these spirits here is in those rooms too." I said frowning.

"I just hope we don't run into whatever it is any time soon." Masako said worriedly. She took the words right out of my mouth. John was in charge of the video camera and he was doing a pretty good job at keeping it steady for how nervous he must be feeling right now. The further we went into the hospital, the darker it got since there wasn't any electricity running except for in the entrance. So Masako and I pulled out our flashlights and turn them on.

"That's better," John said smiling. He turned on the night vision on the video camera. "Hopefully, if we do catch anything, we can see it on here." We were quiet for the most part. I was anticipating something happening as we went. I looked down at the map and we were entering the nusery. This is where people have heard voices. I thought as I shone the flash light around the room. There weren't any windows... how strange. It's supposed to be a nursery for children right? Why wouldn't it have any windows... unless they were boarded up? I shone the light around the room again and finally noticed some boards nailed to the wall. Ah, so they are boarded up. Masako suddenly started rubbing her arms.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, worried. I didn't see any spirits in here, oddly enough. She frowned.

"It's gotten cold. Do you see anything?"

"No, but whatever is making it cold could possibly be hiding itself. It's not the first time it's happened in a case." I said shrugging. She shone the light around the room and stopped at a spot on one of the walls. It looked like the same strange markings that I found on Naru's papers from our last case with Naoki-kun's school. "That's the same markings from before!" I said shocked.

"Before?" Masako asked confused.

"In our last case, we were at a middle school and a boy from there was making Hitogata and was causing a lot of poltergeist activity because of his latent psychic abilities. Anyways, Mai and I were waiting for Naru and the others to get to our base and I was straightening up some papers on the desk and I noticed that those exact same markings were on the papers. We never did figure out how they got there or who put them there." I said frowning. She frowned too.

"That is worrisome."

"I'm not seeing anything in here," John said frowning. I nodded.

"Me either," Other than the markings anyways... maybe I'll tell Naru and Lin about it once we all get back to each other.

"But I still feel cold." Masako said looking worried. Just as we were turning around to leave, we heard a sudden yell. It wasn't like it was in agony, but it did sound angry. We all jumped and Masako took off.

"Masako, come back!" I called after her as John and I stepped out of the room. But she was already gone. "What do we do?"

"I'll head back to base and let Lin know what's going on." John said looking down at the camera. I frowned.

"Okay, I'll try and locate Masako." We split up and I went the way I saw Masako take off. I hope she doesn't end up going missing. I walked further into the hospital, occasionally yelling out Masako's name. I never got a response to any of them other than hearing footsteps. I rolled my eyes. Of course, when we're alone all of this stuff starts to happen. I guess that's the point of a haunted place. I think I'm getting closer to the other side of the hospital. The only reason why I'm thinking this is because I hear footsteps, but they weren't the usual ones that followed you when you walk in here, they were from a distance. Maybe I'll run into Naru, Ayako, Monk, and Mai? I hope so. I moved my flashlight around the hallways and into rooms, looking for Masako."Masako!" I called out, feeling frustrated that I can't find her.

"Aki?" I hear a few rooms down. I run to the room and it wasn't Masako. It was Naru and the others. I sighed. "I'm so glad you're happy to see us." Ayako said rolling her eyes. I smiled.

"Sorry Ayako. It's just Masako got spooked and took off. John went back to base to tell Lin what happened. And I've been searching for her, but I haven't been able to find her." Naru frowned.

"That's not good," Monk said looking worried.

"Have you checked near the operating rooms or the morgue?" Ayako asked curiously. I shook my head.

"We had agreed on saving the operating rooms for last and I didn't even want to think about the morgue." I shuddered at the thought of having to go into those rooms by myself.

"Alright, Aki, you and I will go check out those rooms. Mai, you and the others should head back to base and tell John and Lin what's going on." Naru said looking at Mai. She nodded.

"You two can't go by yourself." Monk said frowning at us. I honestly didn't want to go to either of those rooms with just Naru. I want Lin to come with us too. I would've felt safer that way, but this was no time for that. Masako could get hurt.

"Don't worry, Monk. We'll be fine." I said finally. He sighed.

"Alright, fine. But get back to base as soon as possible."

"Okay," I said before they took off.

"Are you going to be okay with going into the operating rooms and the morgue?" Naru asked as soon as we were sure they were gone.

"As long as I don't have to go in them by myself, I am." I said looking at him. He nodded and the two of us made our way to the operating rooms first. I started to feel nauseous as we got closer.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm just feeling nauseous." I said holding my stomach; like that would help. "I always feel nauseous when I get near the operating rooms. I think I'll be fine going in them though." He nodded as we finally reached the operating rooms. I jumped a little as Kabuki-san ran out of Operation Room 2, screaming. Naru didn't even flinch. I pouted a little. Why couldn't he have jumped too? Anyways, we went into the first operating room and I didn't like it. There were spirits just piled up in here. It almost made me feel claustrophobic and I'm not claustrophobic whatsoever. "Masako?" I called out. We didn't hear or see anything in here other than the operating table and a cart that has rusted metal objects.

"Do you see anything strange?"

"Well, if you mean a whole bunch of spirits just piled in here in one corner, then yes." I said frowning. "I think the thing that's keeping them all from leaving this place is in the next room."

"I see." Naru said before leaving the room.

"Hey, wait for me." I said running out of there. "I told you I don't like to be in those rooms by myself." I scowled a little at him. He sighed.

"I'm sorry." Well, I wasn't expecting that and he was genuinely sorry. I could see it in his eyes.

"It's okay." We finally went into Operation Room 2 and just as we entered I moved out of Kabuki-san's way as he ran out of the room and screamed again, hurting my ears. I cringed and covered my ears. "Let's hurry. I don't feel like having to constantly put my hands over my ears." He nodded and we looked through the room. There was no sign of Masako and I was right about the thing that was keeping the spirits from leaving the hospital being in here. It wasn't another spirit, it was an object. "Is that a jewelry box?" I asked bending down over it. Naru bent down next to me.

"It doesn't show any signs of damage." He pointed out.

"Do you think it's cursed?"

"It's a possibility. We should leave it for now. After we find Miss Haru, I'll have John, Miss Matsuzaki, and Takigawa perform an exorcism on it." Naru said standing up. I nodded and then we headed to the morgue. I hope we find Masako soon. I thought as the nausea went away. "Why did she get spooked?" He asked after walking in silence for a few minutes.

"We were leaving the nursery and something yelled, like it was angry or something. It was pretty loud. Masako just took off screaming. Voices were heard in that room right?" Naru nodded. "I didn't hear any voices, well if you don't count the yelling, or seen anything in there. It was strange. Masako started to feel cold before whatever it was yelled. I think maybe that spirit was hiding itself from Masako and I. It's happened before." Then I remembered the strange writing on the wall. How could I have forgotten about that? "Do you remember that strange writing we found on your papers in that case with Naoki-kun?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"I saw it again on the wall in the nursery." I said frowning. "I don't think it has anything to do with this case or our last case. I think it may have to do with that shadow I was telling you about the other day."

"I see. Have you experienced anymore incidents like you did a few days ago?"

"No. It doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to when I lived in America. It's just been escalating since I've moved back to Japan." I said as we finally got to the morgue.

"Make sure you tell either me or Lin when something like that happens." He said turning towards me and looking me straight in the eyes.

"I'm not trying to sound like you don't care about me and I know we're friends and all, but why?" He sighed.

"We just want to help you, okay?" He said looking away from me. I was honestly shocked. I mean, I know I shouldn't be. These guys have become really close to me over the months that we've been doing cases. They were like family to me, so why was I so shocked?

"Okay," I said smiling. "I'll be sure to tell you guys the next time it happens." He nodded and then we entered the morgue. I started to smell blood and covered my nose.

"What's the matter?"

"It smells strongly of blood in here." I said trying not to gag.

"I thought so too." Naru didn't say this. Who... I gasped.

"Masako!" She stood up from where she was sitting. She looked like she had been crying. I went over to her and hugged her. "We were so worried."

"I'm sorry for worrying everyone." She said hugging me back. "I wasn't expecting that yell. It was filled with so much anger that it scared me. I realize now that I shouldn't have taken off like that. I got lost and ended up in here." Masako and I had pulled out of our hug by then.

"Let's head back to base." Naru said and the two of us nodded.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When we made it back to base, everyone looked relieved to see Masako. "Masako, are you okay?" Mai asked, giving her a cup of tea.

"Yes, thank you." Masako said taking the cup. "I apologize for worrying everyone."

"What do we do now, Naru?" Monk asked curiously. Naru looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I want you, John, and Matsuzaki-san to go to Operation Room 2. Aki and I found a jewelry box in there and we think it's the object that is keeping these spirits here. I want you three to do an exorcism on it." Naru said going over to one of the monitors. "Don't get separated." Somehow the last part seemed unsettling. Ayako, Monk, and John all nodded before taking one of the cameras and leaving.

"Do you still feel nauseous when you go near the operating rooms?" Lin asked me.

"Yeah, but it goes away as soon as I leave the area." I said frowning. "Masako, did you feel nauseous going near those rooms?"

"Yes, I was afraid if you didn't find me soon, I was going to get sick." She said sighing. "I thought about leaving to find you guys, but I feel like it would've made it harder for you to find me." I smiled.

"Don't worry about Masako. All that matters is that we found you." She nodded smiling too.

"Did you get a hold of Yamamura-san about Takeda-san?" I asked Naru.

"Yes, I talked to him as well yesterday. He had said that he and Morikawa-san were recording their report for the day. After they were finished, Takeda-san turned away from Morikawa-san for a few minutes to put his camera away and when he turned back to talk to her, she was gone. He didn't hear any sound from her whatsoever." I frowned. How is that possible?

"Naru, I've got something." Lin said turning towards Naru. Naru rushed over to his side almost immediately and watched the screens. Lin turned up the sound so that everyone could hear.

"Is that a guy?" I asked pointing at one of the screens. He was in the kitchen and it looked like he was pacing around the room. "I guess the better question would be, is this guy alive?" I chuckled a bit when Mai just shook her head.

"Yes, he's alive." Lin answered. "And he doesn't belong here. Should I go confront him?" He asked looking at Naru. Naru narrowed his eyes.

"No, I think we should call the police. I don't think this man is a homeless man. He looks way too nervous."

"I agree," I said when he started talking to himself in mumbles. He kept going back and forth near the walk-in refrigerator. "I think he's hiding something in that refrigerator."

"Lin, call the police. Mai, try and get a hold of John, Takigawa, and Matsuzaki-san." Naru said staring at the man.

"Okay," Mai said, scrambling to get her phone out of her pocket. "Do you want me to tell them to come back?"

"Yes and tell them to avoid the kitchen area at all costs."

"Okay," While Mai did that, I sat down on one of the chairs and sighed. I sincerely hope that whatever he's hiding in the refrigerator is alive. I hope it's those people who've gone missing, I really do. The spirits are definitely for real and probably isn't the real cause of those people going missing. John and Monk came back but Ayako wasn't with them.

"Where's Ayako?" I asked worried.

"Eh? She was just here with us, I swear!" Monk said wide-eyed.

"The man is missing!" Mai squeaked.

"Oh no," Masako said worriedly.

"The police are on their way. The man must be in some of the areas where we couldn't put any cameras." Naru said frowning.

"John and I will go looking for her. We'll be careful." Monk said looking determined.

"I'll come with you," I said standing up.

"No," Lin said standing up too. "You could get hurt."

"I'll be okay. I have John and Monk with me. Plus, I do know self defense." I said frowning.

"No," He said very firmly. I sighed.

"Okay." I sat back down, still frowning. I want to be out there, looking for Ayako. I know it's dangerous with that guy being just about anywhere, but what if he found Ayako?

"Don't worry, Aki. We'll find her." Monk said smiling before he and John left. I understand that Lin is worried about me getting hurt and stuff, but sometimes I feel like he's more like my mom or dad or something. It's so weird. I grinned.

"What?" Lin asked obviously confused. I shook my head.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking something that sounded absurdly funny." I was about to think 'I wonder if Lin would adopt me'. How funny is that? Lin doesn't even like kids, let alone adopting a teenager, who's in high school. He probably has a lot going on in his life anyways. Besides, if he did that, I'd be running away from my problems with my actual parents. I know I've pretty much cut them out from my life, but it's about time I go and talk to them. I need to know what's going on with them. I want to show them that I'm self-sufficient. I hope if they see that, then they wouldn't hate me so much... Am I on my period or what? Now I want to cry. This is getting ridiculous. What is wrong with me?

"I hear the police sirens." Naru said breaking me out of my thoughts. I realized I looked like I was just staring out into space. Oops.

"Aki, are you feeling okay today?" Masako asked me. I shrugged. I guess I'll be honest today.

"Somewhat. I was just thinking that I really needed to face my problems instead of running away from them all the time, like usual. I'm realizing that if I keep doing that, then I won't be very happy." I said leaning back in the chair and looking up at the ceiling. I was trying not to cry. I needed too though, but I didn't want to do that here and especially right now when we needed to focus on finding Ayako.

"Are you talking about your parents and brother?" Mai asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go talk to them after all of this is over." I said looking down when I was sure that I wasn't going to cry. I'll wait to do that later. It wasn't long before we heard cars outside of the hospital and a herd of police officers came in.

"You were the ones who called about the man?" One of them asked.

"Yes, sir," Naru answered. "He was in the kitchen, but he's moved out of our range of sight." Naru said, pointing towards the cameras.

"Alright, are there any others in your party that we need to keep a look out for?"

"Yes, there are three. One of them is a man with long, brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, another is man with short blond hair, looks foreign, and the last, is a woman with brown hair. She went missing just now and the other two are out looking for her. Their names are Takigawa Houshou, John Brown, and Matsuzaki Ayako." Lin answered.

"Understood," Then the group of officers went searching for the man. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them. I sure hope they find Ayako. Mai offered me a cup of tea. I took it and after readjusting, I took a drink of it. I really needed it. It didn't take the police very long to find the guy. They checked the refrigerator and like I had hoped, they found Morikawa-san, Hirota-san, and Kinoshita-san. They weren't harmed, but they did look scared. They were probably hungry too. Apparently the man that was arrested had kidnapped them because he thought they were there to take him back to the mental facility he came from. After calling the mental facility, the police had learned that the man was schizophrenic and ran away. Apparently, the place wasn't far from here. After getting the man, Morikawa-san, Hirota-san, and Kinoshita-san out of here, we were free to finish the case.

"Can we go search for Ayako now?" I asked impatiently. Lin chuckled.

"Yes," Naru, Mai, and Masako stayed at base and Lin came with me. "So what was that absurdly funny thought you were thinking about?" He asks as searched around the hospital. I frowned. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he asked about it. I shrugged.

"It'll sound really stupid." I said feeling uncomfortable all of the sudden. I just realized that I think of him as my surrogate dad or something, so why do I want him to adopt me all of a sudden? Seriously, what is wrong with me?

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. I was just curious."

"I know. I'm not ready to talk about it now, but when I am, I'll tell you, okay?" He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Do you pinky promise?" He asks holding out his pinky. I was shocked. I never expected him of all people say that. I smiled.

"Yes," I said linking my pinky with his. He smiled.

"Good," Suddenly we heard a scream and it wasn't Kabuki-san. We ran towards the scream and it was from Operation Room 1. Monk and John were trying to bust the door open.

"What's going on?" I asked as we caught up to them.

"We found Ayako in the morgue, but she was locked in there. And then when we finally got the door open, she was gone." Monk said before taking another shot at busting down the door.

"We searched the whole room and then just as we headed this way, we heard her screaming." John finished. I wonder how she ended up there. They finally got the door open and we found her strapped to the operating table.

"Get me out of here!" She demanded when she realized that it was us. We got her unstrapped from the table and she pulled me into a hug. "Why did you come find me sooner?"

"We'll tell you when we get back to base." Lin answered as I hugged her back.

"Hey, I don't feel nauseous." I said in sudden realization as Ayako and I pulled out of the hug.

"Good, that means our exorcisms worked." Monk said grinning. I gasped and looked around the room. The pile of spirits is all gone.

"They're gone." I said in shock.

"Who's gone?" John asked curiously.

"Earlier when Naru and I were looking for Masako, we came in here and in the corner, there was literally a pile of spirits. Even Kabuki-san is gone." It's been awhile since the last time I heard him yell.

"Well, it looks like our job is done." Monk said still grinning. The five of us headed back to base and instead of waiting until we got there, like Lin had said, we went ahead and told Ayako what had happened.

"How come no one has found him before?" She asked, frowning. We had just walked back into the entrance.

"He was probably hiding in the nursery." I said thinking back to that yell that scared Masako.

"Nursery?" Mai asked confused.

"There's a closet in there, but we never went into it. But he could've been hiding in there whenever he heard people walking around in here. That would explain the yell that scared us." I said shrugging.

"Well, in any case, let's pack up. We're done here." Naru said straightening up some papers.

"Aye sir!" Monk, Mai, Ayako, and I said grinning and saluting him. Lin chuckled as Naru shook his head.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

April

Saturday, 5:00 pm

Okay, I can do this. I thought to myself as I walked up to the door of my parent's house. I hesitantly reached out and knocked on the door. Nii-chan was the one who answered. "Aki," He looked surprised. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with us." I frowned.

"I did, but I want to set things straight. I don't think that what you or mom and dad did was right, but I'm not going to continue to live with their being bad blood between us." He nodded and let me in.

"They're in the living room."

"Thanks," I said going that way and he followed me. Mom was reading and Dad was reading the newspaper. "Mom, Dad?" Both of them looked up, shocked to see me. "I want to talk if that's okay with you."

"You're not trying to move back in are you?" Dad asked me. I so wanted to just glare at him and walk out. That's the first thing he wants to say to me after not seeing me for months?

"No, I have my own apartment and a job, so I don't need to depend on you guys." Again, he looked shocked. "I came here to talk about what happened. I understand that it wasn't easy for you to have to take care of me with the way I am, but I won't let you mistreat me because I'm weird or... unnatural. I don't want there to be bad blood between us anymore. So, I'm not okay with what you did, but I'm willing to just let it go." Mom was quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry for hitting you." She said quietly. "That was wrong of me. I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you like that. I understand that you don't plan on coming back to live with us and I support you on that. I'm glad that you've found yourself your own place, a job, and good friends. That's all I've ever wanted for you." I could tell she was being genuine, but that was seriously pissing me off because she blamed me for everything that went wrong. Well most of it was my fault but I couldn't control it! Instead of blowing up on her, like I wanted too, I calmed myself down and nodded.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me to hear that." She smiled. Dad grunted.

"I guess I'm sorry too. I wasn't exactly patient with you." He said sitting his paper down finally. "I have a horrible temper and I regret not being able to keep in control. So for that, I'm sorry." Really? That's all you're sorry for?

"I'm sorry, too." Nii-chan said looking down. "I hurt you pretty badly and never believed you when you were telling the truth. I wasn't being the older brother I should've been. I ended up pushing you away when you needed help and I also regret that. I'm so sorry for being a jerk and for not standing up for you. I even caused you to get bullied when we were younger out of spite. I'm a horrible brother." I smiled. Well, at least I know Nii-chan was genuinely sorry. He knew what he did wrong. That's the only difference between him and Mom. She didn't recognize the fact that she blamed me for everything.

"You're forgiven." He smiled back. "That's all I wanted to say." I said turning to Mom and Dad. They nodded. With that awkward note, I left the house. For the time being, that is the last time that I will ever step foot into that house. As I was walking home, I ran into Ryuu and Yuma.

"Aki!" Yuma greeted and hugged me.

"Hey guys." I said hugging her back. "What are you guys doing out so late?"

"We were going to the café to have dinner with Nee-san. What are you doing?" Ryuu asked as we continued to walk.

"Oh, I went to visit my parents."

"Aren't you like mad at them or something?" He asked curiously.

"Ryuu!" Yuma said scowling. I chuckled.

"Yes, I was pretty upset with them and when I left the house, it was on bad terms. I decided I didn't want to continue to have bad blood with them, so I went to talk to them about everything. I want to just let everything go and let them know that I'm not mad about what they did to me anymore." I sighed. "I wonder if they even understood what I was trying to do. Oh well," We were quiet for a little bit.

"Ne, do you want to have dinner with us?" Yuma asked curiously. I smiled.

"I'd love to, but I have some homework to catch up on."

"Aw," The two said pouting a little.

"How about I take a rain check next time?" They grinned.

"Okay, but you're not allowed to say no." Yuma said hugging my arm. I rolled my eyes.

"I thought that's what rain check meant." I swear you'd think they were in middle school or something. I know I'm childish to an extent, but these two are like Mai level of childish. Now, I love Mai don't get me wrong and I have no issue with her being childish. In fact, I love her like that. So when I say these two are on the same level as her, it's a compliment. I love Ryuu and Yuma both just the way they are and I wouldn't have them or Mai any other way.

"We know, but we just wanted to make sure you knew." Ryuu said smirking. I lightly smacked his arm.

"I know what it means, I'm not dumb."

"I know," He said grinning again. I stuck my tongue out at him. We got to the point where we had to split up.

"I'll see you two later."

"Okay, bye, Aki!" Yuma said, hugging me before the two of them went into the café. I waved and started home. I'm glad that I could get all of that off my chest though. I tried to go talk to them a few weeks ago, but I couldn't make myself do it. Then that very night I was going to talk to them, but didn't, they came to my apartment. I don't know how they found out, because I told Suzume-san that if they showed up, I wasn't here. I even gave her a picture! Anyways, they found my apartment and knocked on my door. I was definitely surprised to see them there. I let them in, which was a big mistake on my part, and offered them water or tea or something, you know, being a good host and what not. They didn't want anything to drink and after I offered them to sit down, they said they wouldn't be there for long. That got me curious of course. They started to tell me that I owed them money for all the therapists they made me go to. I was obviously pretty upset with them. I mean, I didn't choose to go to those, they did. So of course, I got into an argument with them and told them that I didn't owe them anything and that it was their own faults for spending that much money on that. Then I told them to leave or I'd call the police after my dad started to threaten me. I wasn't going to sit there and take it.

They were pissed at me after that. I'm surprised no one complained about the noise. Oh well, I guess Suzume-san understands now why I didn't want them to know that I was there. I told her about what happened the next day and she apologized to me a lot afterwards. I don't blame her and I'm not mad at her for doing that. She probably just thought my parents were just going to apologize to me or something and we'd make up. That obviously backfired on her. She said she that if they came back, she wouldn't let them in next time. Anyways, after my parents had left, I didn't want anything to do with my apartment for awhile, so I ended up going to the SPR office. I could tell Lin and Naru were still there, but I didn't even go in. I just sat down on the steps outside of it. I didn't really want to talk about it quite yet, but I knew as soon as those two left, they'd find me and I would be ready to talk about it. Right then, I just needed to cool off. Of course, Naru and Lin finally came out of the office and were surprised to see me.

It didn't take them much effort to know why I was there. After telling them what happened, Naru started saying something about talking to my parents, which I immediately said no to. I do not need him to talk to my parents. I think that would make things worse for me. I mean, and I told him this, I appreciate the thought and that he cared, I just didn't think that would make much of a difference to my parents. They would've gotten angry with him and would've probably taken it to the police or something. I never know with them. Anyways, Naru just said that if I needed him to, he would have a talk with them. I thanked him, but in my mind, I was laughing. What could he do to help me with them? They didn't even listen to him when he told them he couldn't make me stop seeing ghosts! They wouldn't listen to him now, so I don't think anything he tells them will help. After that, the two walked me home even though I told them they didn't have to and after they left, I went to my apartment and went straight to bed. I didn't even eat dinner. I was just tired and ready for bed.

Anyways, I finally got around to it today. I'm surprised they didn't say anything about money. I guess they finally realized that I didn't need them and I didn't plan on ever going to them for anything. I truly feel like if I really needed something that I couldn't get myself and if I desperately needed it, I will go to Mai, Keiko, Michiru, or the others. They are my family and I know they would want me to go to them for anything. And I expect the same out of them. I don't think I've ever told them that though, but I'm sure they don't need me to tell them that. If they need me, then I will do everything that I can to help them; whether it be just listening, buying them chocolate and watching a movie with them, or just to give them a hug. I will do it because they've done so much for me already. I don't know what I'd do without them.

I finally made it back to my apartment and was surprised to see that my lights were on. I frowned and opened the door. It was unlocked. No one broke in I hope... "Hey Aki!" I sighed in relief when I realized it was just Mai.

"Mai, don't scare me like that." I said scowling at her. She smiled.

"I'm sorry. I used the key you gave me. I saw that you went out and you looked worried, so I came in and decided to wait for you to come back. I made some tea." I smiled. I love this girl.

"Thanks, Mai. You know I love you, right?" She grinned.

"You better!"

"I just said I do." I said rolling my eyes as I put my stuff down. She handed me a cup of tea.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" I sighed as we sat down.

"I don't see why not." Then for the next hour, I told her about everything that happened with my parents the last two weeks and about earlier today. She nodded.

"That's good that you talked to them." She said smiling. I nodded, smiling too.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now that I've talked to them today."

"Good! Now there's also something else I want to tell you about."

"What?"

"Well, I had this dream about a little girl named Riko. She was outside in front of a house and she got hit by a car. She didn't make it." Mai said sadly. I hugged her.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't understand why I had that dream though. The Naru in my dream, he said that I'd find out what that dream means tomorrow." She said frowning. I nodded.

"I see."

"I guess that makes sense since the real Naru told me we accepted a case this morning and we wouldn't be starting until tomorrow. He said that he'd like you to come with us." She said smiling. I nodded.

"Alright, are we meeting up at the office at the usual time?"

"Yep!" The usual time is 8 am. Every single time I go with them on these cases, he usually has us meet up at the office at 8 am. I smiled.

"Okay. Do you want to stay the night here with me?" She grinned.

"Yes, just let me go get my things." I nodded and she took off out the door. I shook my head. She's going to run into someone if she's not careful. I chuckled. That's ironic coming from me since I've actually done that. Even so, I'm really glad that I got to meet Mai and the others. They've been a blessing.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

April

Day 1

Ugh, why did I agree to be at the office at 8 in the morning again? Oh yeah, Mai invited me to work on a new case with them. I thought sighing as I finally made it to the office. Apparently Mai had got up earlier than me, because when I knocked on her door to make sure she was up, she didn't answer and her door was locked. As soon as I went inside, I saw Mai trying to get off the floor. Her face was beet red and Naru was just getting off the floor himself. Oh? I stayed quiet as he helped her off the floor. "I am so sorry!" Mai said frantically. I smiled.

"What'd you do this time?" I asked her and she sighed; finally getting herself together.

"I wasn't paying attention and I went to go get tea ready and I accidently ran into Naru." She said her face still red. Naru sighed. That's such a Naru thing to do in a situation like this.

"It's fine," Then he went off to do Naru things I guess.

"I'm assuming we're waiting for the others to get here?" I asked Mai. She nodded.

"Yeah, Naru asked Masako, Ayako, John, and Monk to join us. Only Monk couldn't come because he had band practice."

"Oh yeah, I forgot he professionally played in a band..." I said thoughtfully as I sat down on one of the sofas. I guess Lin is doing paper work of some sort. Seriously, what is he always working on when we're not on a case? I swear he needs to take a break or something. Maybe I should ask him and Naru to have lunch with me and Mai. I could ask Masako, Monk, Ayako, John, and Yasu, too. I smiled. I think that would be nice for everyone to just take a break from all of this gloom and to just hang out and get to know each other more. I mean, I didn't know that Monk was in a band or that Ayako worked at the hospital until Mai told me. I know that Masako works for a television company and that John is a priest, pretty much full time. I don't even know what Yasu likes to do in his free time other than college or reading mystery novels. I also wonder what Lin and Naru do on their days off besides work. I figure Naru reads a whole lot on paranormal research, since that's basically what his sign outside the office suggests. And Lin, I wonder how he and Naru met? Mai had told me that he said something about "the professor" or something. So I wonder if Naru's father is some kind of researcher. Maybe he researches the paranormal too... That would make sense for Naru to be into it, I guess. How does Lin play into it? Did Naru's parents save him or something? Now I know that's way too personal to ask and I don't think he'd appreciate me if I asked him that... Somehow I feel like it's all going to be explained eventually.

"Aki, earth to Aki!" I blinked, realizing someone was waving their hand in front of my face. The second thing I realized is that it was Ayako who was talking to me.

"Oh, hello Ayako." I said smiling. She sighed.

"Geez, I've been trying to get your attention for a whole minute now." She said, sounding grumpy.

"Sorry, I spaced." I said shrugging.

"Obviously," She said rolling her eyes.

"So what were you thinking about?" Masako asked curiously.

"I was just thinking it might be nice if we all went out to lunch or something, you know to talk about things other than the paranormal." I said sitting back against the couch. I didn't want to say exactly everything I was thinking about. It'd be too embarrassing for me.

"That sounds wonderful," Masako said smiling. I nodded.

"Yeah," Naru cleared his throat. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Somehow I knew he'd be doing that eventually.

"We have a client by the name of Fujioka Megumi." He started. Lin was as usual typing on his laptop. I didn't even notice that he was there. "She told me her daughter, Ayano, has claimed that another little girl lives there. Of course, the only ones living in that house is Fujioka-san and her daughter."

"I hate cases like this. They usually turn out to be really creepy." Ayako said shuddering.

"Yeah, but it's cases like this, that gets my curiosity going." I said grinning. Naru pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, Boss."

"Fujioka-san has told me she believes her daughter's doll is possessed." Naru continued.

"Oh no. Not another Minnie!" Mai said looking horrified. Naru scowled at her. "Sorry," She said looking down at her lap

"Why does she think the doll is possessed?" John asked curiously.

"She told me that when she was cleaning her daughter's room one day, she sat the doll on her daughter's bed. And when she turned away for a few seconds and looked back at the bed, the doll was gone. She said she found the doll sitting at her feet." Mai and Ayako both shuddered. "She says nothing serious has happened, but she feels like it's going to escalate."

"I see," Masako said frowning. "How are we going to approach this?"

"With caution, we don't want to anger the spirit if it's not escalated yet." Naru said, sighing.

"When are we going to check out Fujioka-san's house?" Ayako asked curiously.

"This afternoon, why?"

"Well, I have an appointment with my dad this afternoon. So I'll have to catch up with you guys later." Naru sighed.

"That's fine,"

"Also I have to talk to my manager at the television studio." Masako said speaking up. "I'm very sorry Naru."

"Yeah, and I have an appointment with the Father of a church just outside of town." John said sheepishly. Naru heaved another sigh before nodding.

"Okay, that's fine. Then we'll meet up later this evening." Naru said putting down some papers that he was holding.

"Okay, we'll see you guys later." Ayako said as she, Masako, and John got up to leave.

"Yeah, see you," I said before they left. Well, I guess Naru did call them pretty much out of the blue. He can't expect them to just drop everything to be here. I know he's not self-centered like that. I guess it's easy to forget that they do have lives outside of cases. Oh well.

"So when are we leaving again?" I asked curiously.

"I told Fujioka-san we'd be there by 1." It was going on 9 o'clock now.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go get something to eat. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning." I said grinning. "You, Mai, and Lin are welcome to come along." I was going to try!

"No thank you. Lin and I've got some things to prepare for the case." I pouted.

"Oh, okay." Mai giggled and stood up.

"Come on, Aki. We're going to eat at the Star Café right?" I grinned again.

"It's like you read my mind." She chuckled. "Don't worry. We'll be back in time to go to Fujioka-san's house." I told Naru as I stood up, stretching a little. Mai and I left after that and started walking to the Star Café. It's sad that I go there on my off days. I thought shaking my head. Oh well, I love it there.

"You tried," Mai said grinning.

"I know! I swear if I didn't know any better that they never leave that office!" I said scowling.

"Well, if we can get Ayako and Masako to help, I bet we can convince him to go to a hot spring or something." Mai said thoughtfully.

"That's a great idea! Only we'll have to wait until it cools down. I don't like the idea of going to a hot spring in the middle of summer." I said shaking my head. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh, I wasn't going to suggest going after we finished this case or something." I grinned.

"You know I love you, right?" She grinned too.

"I know!"

"I bet Monk would help us too if we asked."

"Then Naru wouldn't be able to say no!" Mai said smirking.

"Why do I get the feeling you girls are planning something?" Hajime said as we walked in.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" I asked smiling as innocently as possible. She chuckled.

"That's what gave me the idea." I stuck my tongue out at her. "So the usual?"

"Yes, please!" Mai said grinning as we took a seat.

"Coming right up!"

"Do you two have a new case?" Suzuki asked as she made her rounds.

"Yep and we're going to be dealing with a possessed doll." I said grinning. Suzuki shuddered and went to go check on another table. "Oh that reminds me. What did you mean by 'not another Minnie', Mai?"

"Oh, well, awhile back, there was a case where there was a possessed doll that was called Minnie. Ayami-chan talked to her all the time and Minnie bullied her to where Ayami-chan wouldn't play with her aunt or mom." Mai explained sadly. "It turned out that a spirit of a mother was trapping the spirits of children in that house because her own daughter had been taken away from her and went missing. So Naru had Lin make a hitogata with the little girl's name on it and he gave it to the mother. She passed on peacefully and so did the children." Mai said smiling. I smiled too.

"That's good. So do you think this case is going to be similar?" She frowned.

"I don't know. There's always something new when we get cases." She said shrugging. I nodded and Hajime had brought out our... brunch? It was only nine forty-five, though. Oh well. I thought as I started to eat. "Thanks, Hajime-san." Mai said smiling.

"It's no problem." Hajime said before going back to the counter.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Mai and I made it back to the office by 12. We decided to take the time and go grocery shopping because I haven't had the chance to go yet and I know Mai hasn't found one either. I guess I could've gone yesterday morning, but you know what, I was worried about going to talk to my parents. So just give me a break. Anyways, we rushed all of our stuff back home and put it away because well, we didn't want to get there at 12:30 because we weren't sure how long it would take to get to Fujioka-san's house. Yeah, so, we practically ran into the office, because we didn't want to be 'late'. Naru happened to be in the lobby area of the office and just looked at us with raised eyebrows. "We cut it a bit close." I said as Mai and I pretty much fell onto one of the sofas. He shook his head and went back into his office. I stuck my tongue out at him and of course, he didn't see it. Mai giggled.

"I swear you two could be siblings or something." Mai said grinning. I looked at her surprised.

"Really?" She nodded.

"Yeah, it's funny because sometimes after you've done something to annoy him and he doesn't think anyone is looking, he gets this annoyed look and I swear it looks like he's pouting." She said blushing slightly, but she was smiling. D'aw, she's so cute.

"I'm glad that you see it that way." I thought she would've been mad at me with how close I've gotten to him. She smirked.

"You just have to watch out for Masako though." I frowned.

"Why?"

"One time, she told me that she was envious of me because Naru called me by my first name and he's never called her by her first name." Mai whispered.

"Seriously?" I asked wide-eyed. She nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, and he calls you by your first name now." I shook my head.

"She's just being silly."

"Just don't let her hear you say that. She'll get mad." I sighed.

"Yeah, yeah." I'm just glad that Masako doesn't come back until later. Otherwise, she'd probably walk in right at that time and probably would've heard mostly everything Mai and I are talking about now. Now that would've been awkward. It would've been twice as awkward if Naru had come in and heard us. I grimaced and looked over at his office door. It was firmly shut. I sighed in relief. Mai looked at his door and then back at me.

"I was thinking the same thing." She said shuddering.

"I'm so glad I'm not the only one."

"Only one, what?" Lin asked walking into the lobby. I shook my head.

"It's nothing, Lin. Anyways, if you haven't eaten anything yet, I brought you and Naru some food from the café. It'll need to be warmed up, but it'll still be good." I said holding up the bag of food. He smiled.

"Thank you." He said taking the bag and heading towards the kitchenette. Success! I thought grinning. Mai gave me a thumbs-up. It wasn't long before Naru came out of his office and announced that we were heading over to Fujioka-san's house. I was excited about meeting this little girl spirit. I wonder what happened to her. Did she live in that house when she died? Mai and I had to squish ourselves in the back with the equipment, so it was a bit of a tight squeeze. I still felt a little uneasy being back in the van even though it's been months since that case with Ichirou-san and Ishida-san. Mai being back here with me, though, has helped me stay calm and remember that we're okay. Ichirou-san and Ishida-san aren't here to tamper with the van.

"Are you okay, Aki?" Mai asked me, looking worried. I nodded.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the last time I was the van." I said shrugging. "I'm find though, I really am." She just nodded, obviously not convinced. Lin or Naru are probably going to try and talk to me about it later too. Anyways, it wasn't long before we made it to Fujioka-san's house. Fujioka-san greeted us outside as soon as we got out of the van. Ayano-chan was with her and was hiding slightly behind Fujioka-san's leg. I smiled. She's so cute. I also noticed that there was another little girl standing by the front door. She was staring at us blankly. She looked to be about Ayano-chan's age. I frowned. This must be the spirit Naru was telling them about.

"Hello, Shibuya-san. Thank you for helping us." Fujioka-san said smiling at Naru. Naru nodded.

"It's no problem." She looked us over and paused when she got to me. "This is Haru Aki, she's a consultant."

"Ah, it's nice to meet you Haru-san." I smiled.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Fujioka-san." She chuckled.

"Please call me Megumi. Fujioka-san is my mom." She seemed like a really nice person. "Oh and this is Ayano, my daughter." Mai bent down to Ayano-chan's level and smiled.

"Hi Ayano-chan. My name is Mai." Ayano-chan smiled and stepped out from behind her mom. Now that I could see her properly, she's holding a doll. That must be the possessed doll then.

"Hi," Ayano-chan greeted quietly. Wow, she's so soft spoken. Unless that's because of the spirit's doing.

"Three more people will be coming in later this evening. They're taking care of some personal matters at the moment." Lin informed her.

"That's fine. I'll make you all some tea." She said as she let us inside and led us to a spare bedroom. "I've got this room set up like you asked, Shibuya-san."

"Thank you," Naru said smiling at her. Well, it wasn't really a smile, smile. It was more of a half smile. She nodded.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything." Then she and Ayano-chan left the room.

"Let's get everything set up." Naru said turning to Mai and I. We nodded and headed back out to the van. Lin followed us. Yay! We don't have to do it all by ourselves!

"Did you see the spirit?" Lin asked as we got to the van. I nodded.

"Yeah, it's a little girl alright. She's wearing a white night gown and has long black hair. Her eyes are blue and she's really pale." I said frowning. Mai gasped.

"That's the little girl I dreamed about!" She said almost excitedly.

"So that's Riko." I said thoughtfully.

"What was the dream?" Lin asked curiously.

"There was a little girl named Riko. She was running out into the road and she got hit by a car. She didn't make it." Mai said frowning. "I had it last night."

"I'll have to look into it." Lin said as we each grabbed a monitor.

"Honestly, I think those three just didn't want to help with the equipment." I grumbled sitting the last of the monitors in our base twenty minutes later. Mai giggled.

"I think it was just a coincidence." I scoffed.

"Coincidence my butt..." I muttered. We finally got the monitors set up as Mai told Naru about her dream. Naru looked thoughtful.

"Did you see Riko?" Naru asked me after a few moments of silence. I nodded.

"Yeah, she was standing by the front door. She was just staring at us." He nodded.

"Let's get a camera set up in Ayano-chan's room, the living room, and the kitchen."

"Okay," Mai and I said before grabbing everything we needed and heading to those three rooms to set everything up. Ayano-chan is going to be sleeping in Megumi-san's room until the end of this case. For the first few hours, we had nothing. That was to be expected of course. We might not even get anything for the first night. John, Masako, and Ayako finally showed up. After we explained what happened while they were gone, it was getting very late and I was getting tired. Ayako was thinking the same thing when she asked Megumi-san if she could borrow the other spare room to take a nap. Masako went to look around the house, while the rest of us camped out in the base. I was sitting on the floor by Lin, who was sitting at the monitors watching them. I yawned and ended up using Lin's leg as a pillow. It didn't take me long to get to sleep, since I was so tired. I thought I heard him chuckle, but I'm not sure. I woke up probably a few hours later to Ayako screaming. I shot straight up and almost hit my head on the desk the monitors were sitting on. Mai, John, and I rushed to Ayako. When we found her, she was standing by the door and looking at the bed in disgust.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"There are ants in this bed." Megumi-san finally showed up and after we turned the lights on, she gasped.

"I swear we don't have an ant infestation! I have no idea where those came from!" Megumi-san said wide-eyed. Ayako sighed.

"It's okay, I believe you. It's definitely not the worst thing to ever happen to me." After that, Naru decided it was best for everyone to turn in for the night. "Wait, where's Masako?" Ayako asked wide-eyed.

"She hasn't gotten back yet." Mai said worriedly.

"I think I saw her heading towards the basement earlier." Megumi-san said thoughtfully. We headed to the basement and heard banging sounds. There was a chair under the door knob, blocking the door. I quickly got it out of there and opened the door. Masako looked relieved.

"Are you okay Masako?" John asked her worriedly.

"Yes, I saw the little girl. She led me in here and then the next thing I know, she's locked me in." She said as we walked back to base.

"Wow and I thought we weren't going to get anything." I said as Mai and I walked them to the front door.

"So you were the one who jinxed us." Ayako said scowling at me. I just grinned.

"Sorry," John chuckled.

"We'll see you in the morning." He said as the three went outside. Mai and I waved before shutting the door and locking it.

"Is she okay?" Ayano-chan asked, looking worried. I was shocked. I thought she was in her mom's room.

"Yes, she's okay." I said smiling at her. She nodded, smiling before running off to her mom's room, I guess. Mai and I shared a look before shrugging and going back to base. Luckily the spare room had large couch, so Mai and I made a bed out of it. We slept on either end. Naru just shook his head before turning back to the monitors. I rolled my eyes. Well, I wasn't going to sleep on the floor all night.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Day 2

Mai and I woke the next morning with sore backs, but we were glad to see that nothing happened over night. I don't think I could've handled it after yesterday's excitement. Lin handed Mai and I a cup of coffee each. I looked at the black coffee with disgust. He chuckled and took my cup back. Yeah he knows I like a lot of sugar and cream. He handed it back to me and I smiled at the now nearly white coffee. Yeah, I'm going to get diabetes. "Thanks,"

"You're welcome." He said smiling before going back to his seat. A few hours later, Megumi-san showed up and told us she had made breakfast for us. I made sure that Naru and Lin couldn't politely say no to her and soon we were in the kitchen at the table.

"Thank you, Megumi-san." Mai said smiling at her.

"It's the least I could do, since you're helping us." She said sitting down too. "How are your friends?"

"They're okay." I answered after taking a drink from my glass. She had given us the choice of milk, tea, or orange juice. I chose milk.

"Oh by the way, I meant to tell you earlier. But when I went to go check on that room this morning, the ants were gone. You couldn't even tell that they were there last night." Megumi-san said shaking her head.

"Really?" Mai asked wide-eyed. That's some creative poltergeist activity right there. I grinned.

"Ayako is so going to be mad when she finds out." Mai giggled.

"Yeah she is." Naru scowled at us.

"What? We're taking this seriously." I said crossing my arms.

"Thank you for telling us this," Lin said before anything else could be said or done. I guess I can see Mai's point about Naru and I acting like siblings. Ayako, Masako, and John showed up after we cleaned up breakfast. Since there wasn't much for us to do right at the moment, Mai and I decided to help Megumi-san around the house and to watch Ayano-chan. Ayano-chan was outside in the back yard playing with her doll. She was sitting in her sand box and they were having a make-shift tea party. Mai and I decided to go join her.

"May we join you?" I asked nicely. Ayano-chan nodded.

"Who's this?" Mai asked nodding at the doll. Ayano-chan smiled.

"This is Suzie. Riko and I like to play tea party with her." Ayano-chan said as she stroked Suzie's head.

"Who's Riko?" I asked curiously; even though I already know.

"She's my friend. She lives here too. She told me she's lived here a long time." Ayano-chan looked up beside her and I noticed that Riko was there.

" _Don't tell them anything else about me_." Riko said to her.

"Riko says I can't say anything else about her." Ayano-chan said looking down at her lap. I smiled.

"That's okay, Ayano-chan." I feel Riko staring at me and I looked back at her. She suddenly looked shocked and then she took off.

"She's gone." Ayano-chan said sadly.

"Riko is?" Mai asked confused.

"Yeah,"

"I'm sure she'll come back." I told her smiling.

"How do you know?" Ayano-chan asked looking at me.

"Because I can see her too,"

"You can?" She asked wide eyed.

"Yes, I can hear her too." She actually looked relieved.

"I'm glad."

"Why's that?" Mai asked curiously.

"My momma doesn't believe me when I tell her about Riko." Ayano-chan said sadly.

"Well, when I was your age, my parents didn't believe me either." I told her, looking up at the sky.

"They didn't?"

"Nope, but I'm sure your momma will believe you one of these days." I said looking at her. She smiled.

"I hope so." I hope the only reason she can see them is because she's a child and not because she's like me. I know that most kids can see spirits when they're younger but after a certain age they stop seeing them. I was just different. I just hope Ayano-chan doesn't have to deal with the stuff I've had to. We ended up taking her back inside to go get a snack. Mai and I left her to go talk to the others.

"So you think Riko knows you can see her?" Ayako asked after Mai and I told her and the others what happened.

"Yes, I don't know what's going to happen now." I said frowning. Suddenly, we heard screaming from the kitchen. We ran to the kitchen and saw Ayano-chan putting napkins on the stove (it's a gas stove). The stove was turned on, so the napkins were catching on fire. Megumi-san was the one who screamed. Lin grabbed Ayano-chan and John grabbed fire extinguisher and put the fire out.

"Ayano-chan!" Mai gasped.

"Riko possessed her!" I said when I noticed the shadow in Ayano-chan's eyes.

"John," Naru said looking at him. John nodded and pulled out a bottle of Holy water. He quickly made Riko leave Ayano-chan's body and Ayano-chan went limp in Lin's arms.

"Is Ayano okay?" Megumi-san asked worriedly.

"Yes, she's okay now." John said smiling.

"I'll make her a protective charm." Ayako said before going back to base. I guess she brought her stuff with her. Well, duh Aki! Anyways, after that ordeal, everyone pretty much stayed out of the kitchen for the rest of the day. Megumi-san decides to take Ayano-chan to the store to get some things, so we were left to watch the house.

"This is getting dangerous." Naru said after Megumi-san and Ayano-chan were gone.

"Yeah, we have to do something quickly before it gets worse." John said looking concerned.

"Maybe I could talk to Riko and see what's going on with her." I suggested. Naru sighed.

"Just be careful." I smiled.

"I will," I said before going to find Riko. She was in the living room by the front window. She was staring out at where Megumi-san and Ayano-chan was before they got in the care and left. "Hi, Riko. My name is Aki. Is it okay if I talk to you?" She looked defensive for a moment before she nodded.

" _Yes, I suppose._ "

"How did you meet Ayano-chan?"

" _She was in her room playing with Suzie after she moved in and I wanted to play too. She said she didn't mind as long as she got to play with me more._ " I nodded.

"Why do you still stay here?" Riko shrugged.

" _I like playing with Ayano-chan. It's really fun. Before I died, I didn't have any friends. When I did make some friends, my dad always scared them off._ " I frowned.

"Your dad, huh... When I was little, it was always my brother who scared off my new friends." She looked at me surprised.

" _Did your brother hurt you too?_ " I shook my head. Was she abused by her dad?

"No, but he knew that I could see and talk to spirits and if I made him mad, he would tell everyone. I was called a lot of names because of that." She frowned.

" _That's so mean..._ "

"Yeah, but I'm over it all now."

" _How?_ "

"Well, I eventually made some friends who didn't mind that I can see and talk to spirits." I said smiling. She looked sad at this.

" _I didn't get that chance. How come you got the chance and I didn't? THAT'S NOT FAIR!_ " The next thing I know, I'm being thrown out the window and glass is cutting into my skin; not to mention, my head felt like it exploded after hitting it on the ground. Yeah, not fun. And I thought everything was going well. I thought before I blacked out.

No One's P.O.V

Everyone heard a loud crash and ran to the source of the noise. The first thing they saw was the busted window and there was glass everywhere. "Aki!" Mai yelled once she saw Aki. She was covered from head to toe in glass and blood. There wasn't any blood coming from the back of her head, though. Lin ran outside and over to Aki.

"Aki?" He called out to her and she groaned. He picked her up and brought her inside. He put her on the couch in their base and Ayako got to patching her up. "She's going to be okay. She hit her head and was knocked out." He said calmly.

"So much for being careful..." Ayako muttered as she pulled the last of the glass out of Aki's skin. Naru sighed. He had a feeling that something like this might happen. It didn't take Ayako long to patch Aki up and she sighed. How does this girl attract so much trouble?

"Did we get what happened on camera?" Naru asked Lin. Lin turned to the monitor of the living room and played back everything that happened in the last 45 minutes. Everyone watched as Lin pushed play. They saw Aki standing at the window and they could vaguely make out the outline of what they assumed was Riko. She was talking to the spirit and from Aki's side of the conversation it seemed to be going well, but then all of the sudden they saw Aki being lifted off the ground and then just as suddenly, she went flying through the window. Masako shuddered. It was scarier seeing it on video. She had to look over at Aki to make sure that she was okay.

"Aki didn't say anything to provoke Riko." John said thoughtfully. "I wonder what her back story is."

"I've done some research and it turns out that Riko lived in this house ten years ago. She was always being abused by her father and then one day she ran out into the street and got ran over by a car. Two years after her death, her father had moved out, claiming the house was haunted. I assume it was Riko's doing." Lin said as he pulled out a piece of paper. "This is her death certificate. Her mother had left the two of them when she was only a year old due to an argument between her and Riko's father." Naru looked at the death certificate and frowned.

"Well, she's not just going to peacefully pass over is she?" Ayako said frowning.

"That would mean, we'd have to exorcise her..." Mai said sadly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Masako said looking grim. Naru sighed. He didn't want to go through this again.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

No One's P.O.V

As John prepared for an exorcism, Mai and Masako go to find Riko. They were going to try and talk her into passing over. They didn't want her to suffer. Masako and Mai found her in Ayano-chan's room. "Riko-chan?" Mai called out to her. Riko looked at the two, causing the both of them to shudder. Mai couldn't see her, but she could feel Riko's stare. "We just came to talk. You have to pass over, if you don't you're going to be put through a lot of pain." Mai said sadly. "Masako and I don't want you to feel that pain. We found out what happened with your father and how awful he was to you. So, please, Riko-chan. Please pass over so you can be finally free from this pain." Masako frowned when Riko shook her head.

"She doesn't want to." Masako said to Mai. "I think she's refusing to."

"Why? You wouldn't suffer anymore." That didn't seem to bode well with Riko as knocking sounds started up. Masako and Mai began to slowly back out of the room. Riko wasn't going to have that as the room started shaking and a book case fell in front of the door. The two screamed in surprise. They were trapped. Now what were they going to do? Naru was going to be very upset with them.

" _YOU CAN'T MAKE ME LEAVE THIS HOUSE!_ " Mai suddenly heard. She looked around the room wide-eyed. Was that Riko? She sounded very angry. It didn't take long for Naru, John, and Ayako to show up. John and Naru moved the book case out of the way with a little difficulty.

"Do it now, John." Naru ordered. John nodded and got to work. He pulled out his Holy water and started.

"Our Father, which art in Heaven, I pray thee, God to take pity on us, and bless us, and let thy face shine over us. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John said as he sprayed Holy water all over the room. Riko gave a scream before she just vanished. All the knocking sounds and shaking came to a stop and it was dead silent. Masako sniffled a little, but sighed.

"She's gone." She announced. Mai felt bad for Riko, but there was no other choice. They couldn't let her keep doing these things.

"John just to make sure nothing else comes back I want you to bless the other rooms in this house." Naru said sighing.

"Alright," John said nodding. The rest of them headed back to base where Lin and Aki are. Aki was still out cold on the couch and Lin was starting to turn the monitors and stuff off.

"I'll go get the cameras." Mai said going back out of the room. Megumi-san and Ayano-chan came back a few hours later. Naru had already called and talked to someone about repairing the window in the living room. Ayako and Masako cleaned up all the glass on the living room floor and tried to pick up what they could outside in front of the window. Megumi-san was about to freak out, but Ayako quickly explained to her what was going on and Naru told her that he would pay for the damaged window. Megumi-san calmed down finally and took a deep breath.

"Where's Aki-neechan?" Ayano-chan asked curiously.

"She's lying down on the couch in our room." Mai answered her. "She bumped her head, so she's resting."

"Oh, okay." Ayano-chan said before heading towards her room.

"Did that ghost push her out the window?" Megumi-san asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, but she's okay. She just has a few cuts from the glass and she'll have bump on her head." Ayako explained to her. "She should be waking up right about now." Just as Ayako said this, Aki walked into the room, looking a little confused.

"What did I miss?" Masako shook her head and smiled.

"We'll fill you in later. Right now, I'm just glad you're okay." Masako said hugging her. Aki hugged her back.

"Well, everything was going fine, but then Riko got mad all of a sudden. Did... did you guys exorcize her?" She asked frowning.

"Yes, it was the only option. Otherwise she'd end up hurting Megumi-san or Ayano-chan." Ayako explained to her.

"Okay," She said nodding. She looked kind of sad too.

Aki's P.O.V

My head was hurting a little but that's just because I've got a huge bump on the back of my head now from hitting it against the ground earlier. Lin gave me some pain medicine earlier when I woke up. I'm just glad that everything is okay with Ayano-chan and Megumi-san now. We stayed long enough for the window guys to finish replacing the window and for Naru to pay them. I guess it was kind of my fault that the window got broken. When I asked Lin about it earlier, he said that Naru wasn't going to make me pay for it or anything. He did however talk to me about what happened yesterday in the van on the way here. I ended up telling him how the memory of the crash came back to me as soon as I got into the van and how I had to remind myself that Ichirou-san and Ishida-san couldn't mess with the van anymore. He asked me if I would rather have Ayako drop me off at home rather than I go with him, Naru, and Mai in the van, but I told him that I'd be okay. I wasn't going to be able to move on from it if I keep avoiding it. And it's true. I want to move on from that. Of course, Lin made me promise to say something if I felt like it was going to be too much for me. I promised, but I really don't see that happening any time soon.

Finally, we made it back to the office and Mai had told me what happened with Riko and honestly, I feel bad for her after what happened with her dad. I wish I could've helped her in some way but I know that I wouldn't have been able to change anything for Riko. She was just too damaged and stuck in her ways to listen to me or anyone else. I hope that if I ever met anyone who was having issues like Riko at home or like what happened to Shichirou, that I'll do everything in my power to help them. With that thought, I sat down on one of the sofas. All I wanted to do was relax. I didn't want t move for anything. The pain medicine was starting to make me sleepy and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up to Mai shaking me awake. She told me that Naru was locking up. "How's your head?" Lin asked as he grabbed his coat.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm sure it'll be a different story when I get up in the morning. I'll stop by somewhere and get some more pain medicine." I said grabbing my own coat. Mai and I walked home after that.

"Hey, Aki, if you're up to it, do you want to go see the Sakura trees tomorrow after school? Michiru was saying that they're going to be in bloom tomorrow." Mai said grinning. "Keiko, Michiru, and I were planning on going to see them before you moved here and we forgot all about asking you to join us until a few days ago." I smiled.

"Sure, I don't have to be to work until 5."

"Yay, I can't wait to tell them!" We stopped by a drug store and I got the pain medicine I know I'll need in the morning. Riko was one strong spirit. I wasn't expecting her to throw me out the window. I didn't even intend to provoke her. While walking around in the drug store, I accidentally ran into a guy. He was about my and Mai's age and he had light brown hair. His eyes were sapphire blue and I couldn't help but notice the freckles that dotted his face. He was super cute. Is he half Japanese? He looked foreign but not really.

"I'm so sorry." I said before I ended up just staring at him. He smiled. When he smiled, my heart just melted. Oh god, did my heart just stop? Get it together Aki! I told myself.

"It's alright, no one was seriously hurt. I'm new in town, so do you mind telling me how to get to the train station?" So he is new! Okay, calm down Aki.

"Yeah, as soon as you leave this place, you turn left and keep going. You'll find it on the opposite side of te road."

"Thanks, my name is Kojima Tatsumi, by the way."

"It's no problem, Haru Aki." I said with a smile.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around then, Haru-san." I wanted so desperately to tell him just call me Aki, but I didn't.

"I guess you will, Kojima-san." He chuckled and then he left. What was that!? 'I guess you will'? Mai grinned at me. "Shut up," I said pouting and going to the counter.

"I didn't say anything." Mai said as soon as we were outside. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Whatever, you were thinking it." She giggled.

"So, obviously you like him."

"No shit, what gave you that idea?" I said rolling my eyes. I sighed. "Now I'm not tired anymore."

"That's because something exciting just happened. So, good luck on sleeping tonight!" I pouted.

"You're a meany." I wonder where he lives and where he moved from. I have so many questions! What am I going to do!? There is no way I'm going to be getting any sleep tonight! Ugh!

"I am not. I'm just teasing you." She said rolling her eyes. I grinned.

"I know! I kind of wish I got his number though." She smirked.

"What so you can stalk him?" I scoffed.

"No, I just wanted to ask him some questions." She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever Aki."

"Well, I do."

"Whatever, I'm going to bed." She said as we got to the Yukimura apartment complex. I just smiled.

"Good night, Mai. I love you bunches!" She smiled, too.

"Good night, Aki. I love you too." I waved at her before going into my apartment. Well, at least I know his name. I thought as I went to my room. I decided to take a shower before going to bed. I can't wait to see the Sakura trees tomorrow with Mai, Michiru, and Keiko.


End file.
